Harry Potter and the Knowledge of the Zlam
by chadsgirl824
Summary: YEAR SIX A new challenge presents itself in Harry's Sixth Year at Hogwart's Written PRIOR to OotP
1. Chapter 1

_Dear Harry, _

I do not have much time but I wanted to let you know I am okay. Dumbledore has found a place for me to stay for the time being and he has informed me that he is going to be sending for you soon and will let me know as soon as he's found a place for you. If you hear from him please send me a note, as he is very busy and might not be able to let me know right away. I hope you are well and that I will see you soon.

Your Godfather,

Sirius

Harry looked at the letter for the 4th time that day and than folded it up and put it in his pocket. He had been back at the Dursley's for two weeks and had received the letter a week ago, but still he had received no word from Dumbledore. He wanted to leave the Dursley's very much and not just because they treated him badly. This time he feared for their safety. If Voldemort was able to use Mrs. Figg to find out where Harry had been staying then they could all be killed in their sleep, or worse. Harry pushed these thoughts out of his mind and got up off of his bed, it was a beautiful summer morning so he went over to the window so he could let in some fresh air.

Just then there was a movement outside of his window that caught his eye. A light brown owl was coming towards him and it had a letter tied to its leg. Harry opened the window and let the owl fly in. He untied the letter from its leg and then it flew over to Hedwig's cage. Hedwig glared at this intruder with disgust as it helped itself to some food, then it let out a squawk and flew out the window.

Harry didn't pay attention to any of this; he tore open the letter and began reading. But he began to feel afraid when he saw what the letter said.

_Harry, _

You-Know-Who has discovered where you are. I am sending someone tonight to get you out of that house. Please make sure you have all of your things packed and ready to go by this evening.

Dumbledore

Harry stared at the letter in shock, re-reading it over a few times. Was Mrs. Figg dead? How else could Voldemort have found him? He put the letter down and immediately grabbed some paper. He wanted to let Sirius know first thing what had happened. After quickly scribbling down what Dumbledore told him in his letter, he tied it to Hedwig's leg and sent her off to deliver it.

Harry knew he had to pack everything so he started right away. He didn't have anything hidden under the floorboard yet as he had only been here for a couple of weeks and hadn't received anything yet from his friends. He was packed completely in just over an hour and had nothing left to do but wait. He kept glancing nervously out the window expecting to see Voldemort standing there; coming for him, but no one was ever there.

The hours went on and it started getting darker out. He thought about warning the Dursley's but decided that he would tell them when he was leaving. He knew that they either wouldn't believe him and he would be punished or they would be furious at him for endangering them and he would still be punished. No use getting them angry at him yet, better to do it when he wouldn't be there to get punished for it. Also, that way someone would be there to stop them.

Harry realized then that he had no idea who was coming. Usually Dumbledore would say who he was sending to let him know who to expect. He pulled out the letter again and re-read it, but this time he noticed something that made his blood go cold.

The first words of the note said: You-Know-Who. Dumbledore never called Voldemort this, especially not to Harry. He knew instantly that Dumbledore did not send this letter. Harry was furious with himself for not noticing this sooner. Now he had already sent Hedwig to Sirius letting him know Dumbledore was sending someone for him and had no other way to contact anyone.

Just then he heard a scream downstairs, his heart was in his throat as he flung open his door and ran downstairs. He saw the Dursley's cowering in a corner of the living room from a man standing nearby. When the man turned around as Harry came into the room, he came face to face, once again, with Lucius Malfoy.

"Potter," Lucius sneered at him. "Didn't think you'd actually be safe here, did you? You have greatly upset my master and I intend to bring you to him. I knew you'd be stupid enough to believe that letter." Lucius looked quite pleased with himself. Harry watched as he took out his wand and pointed it at him.

He didn't stop to think, he ran straight at Lucius and slammed into him, knocking the wand out of his hand. They both scrambled for it, Lucius was stronger, but Harry was quicker. He snatched up the wand and spun around with it.

"Don't move," he said shakily to Lucius.

"Do something, boy!" Vernon shouted from behind him.

"More are coming, Potter. Do you think I'm a fool? You will be outnumbered shortly, so this little game you're playing now is pointless."

Harry didn't know if he was bluffing or not, but he didn't have time to think about it. He heard a 'popping' noise behind him and knew someone else had entered the room. He looked over his shoulder, keeping the wand trained on Lucius.

"Sirius!" he cried, filling with relief. But Sirius didn't look relieved at all; he looked at Harry and then at Lucius.

"Harry, watch out!" he yelled. But Harry didn't turn around fast enough to see Lucius lunge forward. He grabbed his wand and took a step back, pointing it at Harry. Sirius, however had pulled out his wand, and was pointing it at Lucius.

"You can't hide forever," he sneered at Harry. "The Dark Lord will find you, no matter where you run." But Harry could see the fear in his eyes, and knew he had been bluffing earlier. He felt Sirius slowly step up next to him and for a moment no one spoke. Then without warning, Lucius dissaparated.

Harry immediately turned to face Sirius and they both hugged for a moment. When he pulled back Harry asked:

"What made you come here, I never got to tell you…?"

"Your letter told me. Dumbledore had just arrived where I've been staying to let me know where he wanted you to stay. I was glad he wanted to check it with me first, but then Hedwig arrived with your letter. Dumbledore said he hadn't sent anything to you and we knew something was wrong. I said I would come to get you and bring you back there, looks like you didn't need my help though," he added with a grin. "Got his wand away from him and everything."

"I didn't even think about it," Harry said grinning back. "It was just the first thing that came to mind."

"Well it's a good thing it did, now are your things ready, we should probably get out of here quickly. We don't want to be here if he comes back."

"What do you mean comes back?" Uncle Vernon found his voice suddenly. "He better not be coming back!"

"He won't, as long as Harry isn't here," Sirius said glaring at him. Then he turned back to Harry. "Let's go get your things."

They grabbed Harry's trunk and Hedwig's empty cage and brought them downstairs. Sirius had brought floo powder with him as Harry couldn't apparate yet, and they moved close to the fireplace. He looked at the Dursley's who still hadn't moved from where they were crouched in the living room, they were looking at Sirius with just as much fear as they were showing for Lucius.

"Good-bye then!" Harry said to them, but none of them moved, they just kept staring. Sirius threw in the floo powder and Harry stepped in first.

"Sirius'" he called and instantly felt himself being whisked away.

When Harry finally came out on the other side he landed on his knees. He put down Hedwig's cage, stood up quickly and saw Dumbledore standing in front of him.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said happily.

"Hello Harry, I see Sirius got to you in time." Then as if on cue, Sirius came tumbling out of the fireplace, barely holding on to Harry's trunk.

"That thing is quite heavy," he said standing up and brushing himself off. His face reddened a bit as if he was a little embarrassed and there was an awkward silence.

"How did they find me?" Harry spoke up suddenly. "Is Mrs. Figg dead?"

"She may be," Dumbledore said gravely. Harry was a bit taken back. This question had gone through his mind many times since he first realized the letter was a set-up, but he never really let it sink in. Then Dumbledore continued.

"We don't know anything for certain yet, but we are looking into it. Sirius and I only just found out about this when he received your letter. It is very fortunate you decided to send it, or who knows where you would be now."

"Harry might've been just fine," Sirius said with a smirk. He explained what he saw when he arrived at the Dursley's and Harry told what had happened before that.

"I should've known much sooner, though," he said. "If I'd bothered to think about it I would've know right away it wasn't from you."

"The important thing is you did realize it and you were able to do something about it. Don't think about anything else," Dumbledore told him. Then he stood up and moved away from the table.

"It's time for me to go. I will be back for you tomorrow, Harry. You can stay here for the night. I can't let you stay longer because I don't feel it is safe enough for you."

"What about Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Sirius is not being hunted by Voldemort's followers, the ministry of magic won't find him here. Please don't argue, I have made my decision. I will be here tomorrow evening, good night." He smiled at Harry and nodded at Sirius, then dissaparated.

"I didn't get a chance to ask him where I'm going," Harry said looking at where Dumbledore stood a moment earlier.

"Well, I believe you'll be happy with it, so I'm going to let it be a surprise," Sirius said with a grin. Harry spent the rest of the evening trying to get the secret from him, but Sirius wouldn't give it up. He would just have to wait and see.

The next morning came too fast for Harry, and he was packing the few things he had taken out back into his trunk. He ate breakfast with Sirius and waited for Dumbledore to come. Soon enough they heard the familiar popping sound and Dumbledore was in the room with them.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully.

"Good morning, professor," Harry said. "Where am I going today?"

"I see Sirius hasn't told you, eh? Well not too much longer to wait. Are you all packed and ready to go?"

"Yes, I'll go grab my things."

He ran to the room he had stayed in and dragged his trunk and other belongings out to where Dumbledore was waiting.

"We will use floo powder to get there and we're going at the same time, so let's bring all of your things near the fireplace."

When everything was ready Harry went over to Sirius and gave him a hug.

"I'll see you again when school starts," Sirius said to him.

Harry nodded and said goodbye, then went over to where Dumbledore was waiting for him. They picked up the trunk with everything else on top of it and Dumbledore threw in the powder. As they stepped in Harry heard him say:

"Hogwart's."

Once again, he was off through the floo network. When he stepped out of the fire as they arrived, he saw they were in Dumbledore's office.

"But…how?" was all Harry could ask looking bewildered.

"Besides your house, this was always the safest place for you," Dumbledore said to him. "Now that we know you're not safe there, I had only one choice left."

"I didn't think student were allowed to stay here during the summer," Harry said.

"Normally we don't allow it, but these are very special circumstances. You're life is in danger, and I will do everything in my power to keep you away from Voldemort."

"Will I be sleeping in my regular bed?" he asked.

"Yes you will have the Gryffindor tower for yourself, the password you will use for the summer is 'cinnamon'. You will still get all your meals in the great hall, and use the library whenever you want. The classrooms will all be locked until school begins again."

Harry felt excitement building inside him. He would be able to explore the school without being able to get detention or lose points for his house because classes hadn't begun yet. He could hardly wait to get started.

"Now if you don't have any more questions, you can head up to your room, your things are already there."

Harry looked around and realized his things were gone. He hadn't thought the house elves would be here all year too. He nodded at Dumbledore and headed out into the hall, thinking this would be one of the best summers he'd had in a while.

Harry's first couple of weeks went by without incident. Surprisingly, he spent a lot of time doing homework. Now that he didn't have to worry about using magic in front of muggles, he could actually test the spells and charms he was supposed to be writing about. He had sent letters with Hedwig to Ron and Hermione, explaining what had happened, and they had sent responses expressing their concern for him. Ron was more jealous than anything though; Harry had the run of Hogwart's with no one to bother him.

But he was lonely too. There were no kids around and the only people he had seen were Dumbledore and Filch, who Harry supposed, never left. The ghosts were there but the only one he talked to was Nearly-Headless Nick, and not very often, either. He wasn't allowed outside by himself and he had no one to come with him, so by the time it was almost his birthday, Harry was thoroughly bored and he still had a month left before school started.

He was down in the common room reading a book on quidditch the night before he turned 16, when he heard a noise. He turned to see the portrait hole swing open, and Ron and Hermione ran in with big smiles on their faces. Harry jumped up and could barely contain his excitement at seeing them.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked in amazement.

"Dumbledore said we could come, just for a couple of days, for your birthday," Hermione answered him.

Harry was overjoyed; then he noticed that Fred, George, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were in the room as well.

"Happy Birthday, Harry dear!" Mrs. Weasley said smiling. She went to Harry and gave him a hug. "I'm not staying, just wanted to drop off your gift, don't open it until tomorrow, mind you!" Then she turned to address the others, "I'll be back for all of you day after tomorrow, have fun!" She smiled at Harry again and then went back through the portrait hole.

"This is so wicked!" Ron exclaimed when his mother had gone. "We have no one to bother us or take points from us, we can do whatever we want!"

"Not exactly," Harry said. "I can't go outside without someone else and all of the classrooms are locked and there is literally no one to do anything with besides Dumbledore and Filch. Dumbledore is very busy and who wants to spend time with Filch?"

"Well we'll go outside with you," Fred spoke up. "We can play quidditch down on the pitch, since this'll be our last chance and all." Harry hadn't even thought of that, Fred and George would not be in school this year.

"Definitely, we have to! It'll be my last chance to play with you guys!" Harry said.

"I know it's a crushing blow for you isn't it?" George said appearing sad, then he smiled and said, "Well you can still come to our house, though it's not quite the same, I know."

They talked a lot more that night about what they had all been doing over the summer, but as it got later, Harry was the one who suggested they get to sleep.

"I don't want to stop but I don't want to sleep through tomorrow either," he explained.

"Well, because it's you're birthday, alright…but just this once!" Fred teased. "Happy Birthday, Harry!"

"Yes, Happy Birthday," George put in. "Wait, I don't have to say that again when we wake up, do I?"

Harry just laughed at them. Everyone started to get up and head up to the dorms.

"Good night Harry," Ron said as they got into their beds.

"Good night Ron," Harry answered through a yawn. He drifted off to sleep feeling nothing except happiness.

The next morning, Harry woke up with a feeling of excitement because he'd never spent a birthday with his friends. He looked over at Ron's bed and saw he was already up, so he grabbed his glasses, jumped out of bed, and headed down the stairs. When he entered the common room he saw everyone there trying to set up all the presents on a table, presumably they wanted to finish before he came down. Harry started to back up, not wanting to ruin the surprise, but Ginny spotted him.

"He's here!" she whispered loudly. They all turned around to see Harry partway in the doorway to the common room. Hermione looked a little upset that they weren't quick enough but the others just smiled.

"Finally!" Fred said loudly. "I was beginning to think we'd really have to finish setting these up!"

"Yeah, what took ya?" George added with a huge grin.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" Hermione said smiling at him.

Harry walked fully into the room feeling extremely happy. They spent the next hour watching him open their gifts and passing them around for everyone to see. He got the usual treats from Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George gave him lots of their trick wands and candy and such, Ginny gave him a poster of England's quidditch team, Ron gave him candy – not trick candy – and Hermione gave him a moving picture of him, Ron and her.

"When was this taken?" Harry asked looking at him and Ron playing a game of chess while Hermione went back and forth from watching them play to reading a book.

"Colin Creevey took it, last year," she explained. "I saw him do it while you two were playing and asked him if I could have a copy. I know you don't have any pictures of the three of us so I thought it would be nice."

"Thank you," he said, truly meaning it. He didn't have any pictures of them together, so this was his first.

"Well then, I'm famished, shall we go see what the house-elves have prepared for breakfast?" George said grinning devilishly at Hermione. She scowled at him but didn't say anything. Harry and Ron just laughed at her; they all went back up to get dressed, then headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

When they finished eating, they immediately headed down to the pitch. Harry was so happy to be outside and he couldn't wait to be on his broom again. It was his favorite thing in the whole world. Hermione and Ginny were going to watch but Harry and Ron talked them into playing, only after they promised they would play without bludgers.

Soon they were all up in the air, Ron was playing keeper, Fred and George made up one team, Harry, Hermione and Ginny the other. They weren't using the bludgers or the snitch, so they just kept trying to score goals with the quaffle. As none of them were chasers, the teams were pretty evenly matched.

The game was tied at 20 apiece, when Harry tossed the quaffle to Hermione. It was the first time she got her hands on it all game, she pulled her arm back and threw it with all her strength. It flew far over the goal hoops, and landed somewhere behind Hagrid's hut.

"You've got a great arm!" George exclaimed looking at Hermione in awe.

"But horrible aim," Fred added with a grin.

"It's just her first time, guys, leave her alone," Harry said. "I'll go get the quaffle." He turned on his broom and headed towards Hagrid's, but he had to search for it when he landed as the underbrush had grown quite a lot. Since Hagrid hadn't been around for a while, it wasn't kept up as regularly as usual. Finally after slowly trudging around and looking for 10 minutes he caught a glimpse of red a few feet away. He pushed his way over to it but when he moved to grab it, something jumped out of the grass in front of him.

He stood up quickly and saw a very tall thin creature in front of him. It had blue skin and it's head looked like a frog's…only it had a neck. It looked at Harry, then noticed the scar on his forehead, and it's eyes widened. Harry noticed the creature looked petrified, after a few moments of staring at each other, he opened his mouth to speak to it, but he heard another voice before he could say anything.

"Harry, where are you? Did you get lost?" he heard Ron yell. Harry looked from the creature to where Ron's voice had come from and finally started to call out to his friends, when the creature suddenly lunged forward. Harry was knocked to the ground and the creature ran past him. He looked after it until it disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.

"What are you doing?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and saw Ron had landed behind him. He stood up quickly and brushed himself off.

"Did you find the quaffle while you were down there?" Ron asked.

"Yes, um…did you see that thing, I don't know what it was. It ran into the forest, just over that way," Harry said pointing.

"What thing? What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"Never mind. C'mon," he said picking up the quaffle, "let's get back to the game."

Harry put the encounter out of his mind. He figured it was just another of the strange creatures that lived in the forest. Maybe it was in Hagrid's garden looking for food for all he knew. They flew back over to the pitch to where the others were waiting and continued their game. Harry persuaded them to stay out until it started getting dark because he knew it would be awhile before he was outside again.

Later on, in the common room, Harry and Ron played a game of chess with everyone else trying to give Harry tips. Then they played a few games of exploding snap. Before they knew it, it was very late, and they were all fighting to stay awake.

"This w-wouldn't be ha-hap-happening if you hadn't made us stay out so long, Harry," Fred said to him trying to stifle a yawn.

"You don't understand how much I needed to be outside," Harry said grinning sleepily.

They eventually lost the fight, and headed upstairs to the dorms. Harry was sad they would be leaving the next day, but he was too happy at having spent a birthday with them to let it bother him; even thoughts of the strange creature were forgotten, as he quickly fell asleep.

Mrs. Weasley arrived the next morning to take everyone back home. Harry wished he could go stay with them, but knew Dumbledore would never allow it. They did make plans to go to Diagon Alley together though, a week before school starts.

As the next couple of weeks slowly passed by, Harry spent most of his time reading. Dumbledore would look in on him occasionally, but for the most part he was on his own. Sometimes he would stay up so late with a book he would fall asleep in the common room and wake up very stiff the next morning.

Then on one of these nights, he woke up in the common room and saw two giant eyes staring back at him. He forced himself backwards into the chair he was in and saw that the eyes belonged to the creature from Hagrid's garden. Harry didn't know whether he should be afraid, as the creature seemed terrified enough of him.

"You are Harry Potter, yes?" the creature said in a very squeaky, quivering voice. Harry was taken aback by the fact that the creature could speak and didn't say anything for a minute.

"You are not?" it asked, looking confused.

"What, oh… er, yes, I am." Harry sputtered, finding his voice. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"I am called Corfay and I came here to find you. We have something in common, we do. Voldemort is after both of us."

Harry was shocked when he heard this.

"What? Why is he after you? Does he know you're here?" Harry asked feeling dread building inside him.

"I can always feel him," Corfay said glancing around nervously, "he is very close. I am sorry for you, Harry Potter, very, very, sorry."

Harry's head was spinning. Was Voldemort here now? Why did this creature need to find him? What could he do to help? He opened his mouth again to ask another question, when the creature reached forward and roughly grabbed Harry's arms. He winced at how tightly Corfay was holding him and wouldn't have believed by looking at him that he was this strong. He started to struggle but then stopped as he was stunned by what he was seeing.

It looked like electricity was running through Corfay's arms, Harry felt a surge run through his body and sat bolt upright. It was painful and wonderful all at the same time. When it was over, Harry felt weaker than he could ever remember. He sat in the chair unable to move, staring at Corfay, who also looked very drained.

"I…I am sorry, Harry Potter," he said looking truly upset, then he spun around and moved towards the window. He glanced once over his shoulder and looked at Harry again, then he let himself fall forward.

Harry was staring in disbelief, trying to will himself out of the chair to see if Corfay was alright, but he couldn't. His body was not responding to anything he tried to do, and it was becoming very hard to stay conscious. Finally he could stay awake no longer, and was swallowed by darkness.

When he finally woke up he could barely see anything. He pushed himself up and realized he was in a bed. He felt around next to him on either side and he found his glasses. When he put them on he saw he was in his four- poster, then he noticed Sirius was asleep in Ron's bed.

Harry pushed the covers back and slowly swung his legs over the side, he was still achy everywhere. When he stood up, he immediately felt dizzy, and leaned back down on the bed again. Sirius heard him moving and sat up quickly in the bed.

"Harry!" he said showing obvious relief. "You're awake, how are you?"

"Feeling a little dizzy," Harry said. "Why are you here?"

"Dumbledore sent for me. I asked him to let me know if anything out of the ordinary happened. When you never came down for any of your meals a few days ago, he went to check on you. You were asleep in one of the chairs downstairs, but there were strange burns on your arms. He put you in your bed, you would have been in the hospital wing but no one is there right now, then he sent for me."

"You said a few days ago. I was asleep for a few days?" Harry asked feeling dazed.

"Yes, and we need you to tell us what happened so we can understand why. Do you remember anything?"

"Yes," he answered, remembering very well the feeling that had gone through him.

"Good. I'm going to get Dumbledore and we'll want to hear everything. Are you well enough for that?" Harry nodded and Sirius was out the door.

Harry pulled his covers up around him again and looked at his arms. What had Corfay done to him? And why? He hoped Dumbledore would be able to answer these questions. He leaned back against his pillows and waited.

After a short while, Sirius came back into the room followed by Dumbledore. Harry had started to doze off again but Sirius shook him gently back awake.

"Harry, are you really up to this? If you are too tired we can do it another time." Sirius told him.

"No, I'm fine," Harry said. "Hello professor."

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said with a smile, "quite a scare you gave us. Please tell us what you can remember, so we can find out what did this to you."

"Isn't it obvious who it was?" Sirius asked angrily.

"It wasn't Voldemort," Harry told them. "I don't know what he was, but he said his name was Corfay."

Harry explained everything that had happened the night Corfay got into the school, and also told them how he had seen him on his birthday.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Dumbledore asked him.

"I thought he was just one of the creatures from the forest, I really didn't think anything of it. He seemed more scared of me than anything, so I didn't think of him as a threat. Even the night he was here he seemed very reluctant, like he didn't want to do…whatever it was he did. He said Voldemort was after him too."

Harry stopped to think for a moment, then realized something he hadn't before.

"He actually said the name too, Voldemort. He didn't say You-Know-Who like everyone else does." Harry shivered involuntarily and felt a sudden pain go through him, but it wasn't caused by his scar. Sirius looked at him with concern and then turned to Dumbledore.

"We have to find out who this Corfay is and what he did to Harry."

"You're right Sirius," Dumbledore said grimly, "We most certainly do." Then without any explanation, he stood up quickly and left the room.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked looking towards the door. It was very unlike Dumbledore to behave like that.

"I'm not sure," Sirius answered looking after him as well. "I'll have to speak with him when he's a bit less…preoccupied." Then he turned back to Harry. "So, you are feeling better then? Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"I'm feeling better, yes. Still very tired, though I can't understand why if I've been asleep for a few days."

"And we'll find out why, I promise you. Now you better get some rest, if you want to go to Diagon Alley with your friends tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we thought you might sleep through it and we'd have to have the Weasleys get everything for you. But you wouldn't let that happen I see, you've woken up just in time," Sirius said with a playful grin.

Harry just smiled at him and laid back down. He definitely didn't want to miss the yearly trip to Diagon Alley. Especially since it would mean seeing his friends again. He was almost glad he had slept through the last few days as it certainly made them go by quicker. He was asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.

The next morning Harry woke up feeling like nothing had happened. None of the tiredness from the day before was affecting him today. He got dressed quickly and went down for breakfast. Dumbledore was down in the great hall waiting for him.

"Good morning Harry, feeling better?"

"Yes sir, much better," Harry answered feeling uneasy. He knew that Dumbledore was still concerned over what had happened but he didn't want to be told he couldn't go today.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to keep you from going to Diagon Alley." Dumbledore said with a grin. Harry smiled with relief; he truly believed that Dumbledore was able to read minds. "I do want you to stay with the Weasleys the entire time. Do not for any reason go off on your own. Will you promise me?"

"I promise," Harry said, truly meaning it. He had no intention of wandering off, remembering what happened last year.

"Very good then. When you are finished with breakfast, you may come up to my office, and use floo powder to get to Diagon Alley."

"Harry! Over here!"

Harry turned and saw Ron, Hermione and Ginny running towards him.

"Hey guys!" he said as they neared each other. "Have you been here long?"

"We just got here. Dumbledore told us to wait for you here, but we didn't have to wait long at all." Hermione said.

They headed to Gringott's first and filled their bags with money, then they went to get their books.

"Do you think Hagrid will be back this year?" Ron asked as he and Harry were looking around Flourish and Blotts.

"I don't know. I haven't received anything from him since last year. I hope everything's okay," Harry answered.

"Well as much as I like Hagrid and all, Care of Magical Creatures is a lot less dangerous with Dumbledore teaching," Ron said.

"Yes, but he shouldn't be teaching it. Mrs. Figg should…" Harry trailed off feeling suddenly guilty. Ron shuffled his feet, not sure what to say.

"Are you two just about ready?" Hermione asked from behind them.

They brought their things to the front to pay for their books.

They made the rest of the rounds, getting potion supplies from the Apothecary, getting the length of their robes adjusted at Madam Malkin's, and then stopped at Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop to have a look around.

"Fred and George's trick magic jokes are much better than these," Harry said looking around.

"And we don't have to pay for them, yet anyway," Ron added.

"It's gonna be so weird not seeing them at school this year," Harry said. "Do you realize we're the only members on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team right now?"

Ron looked at him as if he were realizing this for the first time.

"Bloody hell! We're going to have to choose all new team members by ourselves?" he exclaimed.

"I hope we have better beaters and chasers then we did keepers. Last year's tryouts were truly horrible."

They all left the joke shop and headed over to Florean Fortescue's for ice cream. After they sat down, they saw something was going on across the street. There was a crowd of people who were all whispering back and forth to each other. Harry could make out three tall figures behind the crowd, talking to some bystanders, who seemed very nervous. He took a closer look at the figures and gasped as they all turned their heads to look at him. They all looked exactly like Corfay. Hermione and Ron looked at Harry, confused, he hadn't told them yet about what had happened. Harry sat, frozen to his chair, as the three creatures moved towards him.

The three creatures stopped right in front of Harry.

"Give it back," one of them said in a low voice. Harry didn't even realize for a moment that the creature was talking to him.

"Give what back?" he asked. He had no idea what they were talking about.

"Don't fool around with us!" one of them yelled suddenly leaning forward. "It isn't yours, return it now!"

Harry pushed his chair back and stood up. He backed away from the creatures slowly. He was looking around wildly but everyone was just staring at them, not moving, even Ron and Hermione didn't do anything. Then, Mr. Weasley appeared behind the creatures.

"Leave him alone. You have no business here," Mr. Weasley said, addressing the creatures.

"You do not tell us our business," one of them said turning to him.

"I do here. You know you are not allowed in this place. I suggest you leave now. There will be Ministry members here shortly. Did you think we would not notice your arrival?" Mr. Weasley was looking at them smugly.

The creatures appeared to know they could not win, so they turned to go.

"Don't think you are getting out of this so easily, boy. We will get what is rightfully ours." one of them said to Harry before they left. Harry stood there in shock. What had they been talking about? He didn't have anything, did he? Whatever it was he would certainly return it if it meant not having to see them again. Mr. Weasley came over to Harry then.

"Are you alright?" he asked showing much concern.

"Yes, I'm fine." Harry told him. Ron and Hermione, no longer transfixed by the creatures, came over to them.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure," Harry told them. "One of those things, not any of those three, but one of them, got into the tower a few nights ago." He looked at the others shocked faces and explained quickly what happened.

"So that thing, Corfay, he gave you something?" Hermione asked.

"As far as I know he gave me a long nap and lots of aches and pains, if he gave me anything else I haven't seen it yet."

"Come on," Mr. Weasley said then. "I think we need to get you back to Hogwart's, immediately."

The Weasleys and Hermione went with Harry back to Hogwart's. Arthur spoke to Dumbledore about what had happened and Dumbledore looked far from pleased. After they finished talking they left to go back to the Burrow. Harry told his friends he would see them in a week, realizing he wouldn't get to ride on the train with them, and watched them go. Then he turned to Dumbledore.

"Do you know what the creatures were talking about? Do I have something that belongs to them?"

"Only time will tell," Dumbledore said, then he turned away and went to sit down. Harry stared at him, feeling very confused and wishing Dumbledore would just tell him what he obviously knew.

"They seemed very sure of it," Harry pressed on. "What are they? Why did Mr. Weasley say they weren't allowed there?"

"They are called Zlamfimians, or the Zlam. They do possess the power to use magic, just as we do. For many years now they have been banned by the Ministry of Magic from any areas that humans reside in. Since neither side gets along well with the other, no one argued this, but the ministry keeps careful watch on them, just as they do on us. There is no trust between us."

"Why not?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"Don't worry about it now," Dumbledore said trying to smile but looking very grim. "I, unfortunately am quite busy at this time, and I must ask that you return to your tower. Please just try to put these thoughts out of your mind for the time being."

Harry didn't know if that was possible, but he nodded and left the room. He couldn't help but be afraid of the Zlam. They thought he had something that belonged to them, and one of them had already gotten into the school before. He wondered if that's what Corfay was trying to do, take whatever they thought he had. Harry tried to push these thoughts out of his head, as he walked alone through the empty hallways.

September 1st arrived soon enough, and Harry was overjoyed that he would have his friends to hang out with by that evening. He spent the afternoon pacing the common room. He tried to read, but he couldn't concentrate. It was definitely the longest day so far.

All of the teachers had arrived at the school in the last week, but they were busy getting ready and Harry didn't want to bother them. He hadn't seen Lupin yet but figured he would be arriving today. As it got closer to the time when the train would be arriving, Harry went to see Dumbledore to ask if he could go out with him to greet the students, and take the carriages back to the school. He was fine with this so when it was time, they left together.

When the train pulled in, Harry looked around anxiously waiting to spot his friends. He spotted Neville and Dean first; who waved to him appearing confused he was already there. Harry just waved back and smiled, continuing on down the train. When he reached the end, Ron and Hermione were just stepping off; they smiled at Harry as he came over to them.

"Harry! They let you out of the school, ey?" Ron said jokingly.

"I wanted to at least go in with everyone," Harry told them. "I felt kinda silly about sitting in the great hall by myself waiting for all of you to arrive."

They started to head over to the carriages, when Harry spotted another familiar face.

"Su!" he called. Su turned around quickly and smiled.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione!" she ran over to them. "How have you guys been?" she asked excitedly.

They all sat in a carriage together and talked the whole ride there about their summers, Harry listened to most of it not wanting to say much to Su about his summer. The parts that weren't frightening, were boring.

When they reached the school, they stepped out of the carriages and headed in to the great hall. They spread out to their tables and awaited the arrival of the first years. After a short while, they started to wonder what was keeping everyone, then the doors of the great hall banged open and the first years walked in, without Professor McGonagall.

Harry glanced nervously at Ron and Hermione. The first years moved up to the front of the room and stood there, anxiously waiting. A few of the teachers had gotten up from their seats and were now heading towards the doors.

"What do you think is going on?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know-" Harry started. Just then Dumbledore and McGonagall appeared at the door. They spoke quietly with the other teachers for a moment, and then started heading for the front of the room. Professor McGonagall grabbed the stool and the sorting hat, while the other teachers went back around to their seats. Dumbledore remained standing and then began to address the students.

"I apologize to all of you, for the delay. There was a small problem, but I assure you it's all taken care of. Now, Professor McGonagall, if you would please begin?" McGonagall nodded and began calling out names as she did every year for the sorting. Harry was trying to concentrate but was finding it hard to do. He wanted to know what the problem was. Surely if it had been minor they wouldn't have sent the first years in alone, would they? He was shaken out of his thoughts when the rest of his table erupted in applause, as the first new Gryffindor joined their table.

When the sorting had finished, and everyone began eating, no one talked about what had happened. Harry decided not to bring it up and decided he would just try to ask Dumbledore about it. But when the meal had ended, Dumbledore's usual speech was finished, and everyone started to get up to leave, Harry saw McGonagall heading over to them.

"Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger, I need the two of you to come with me please, Professor Dumbledore wishes to speak with you." They both got up and looked at Harry, expecting she would ask him too.

"Now please," she said quickly and started off. Harry watched them walk away; feeling bewildered, but knew his questions would have to wait. He stood up to follow the rest of the students back to the tower.

Harry sat in the common room with Ginny, waiting for the others to return. She was trying to have a conversation with him but he was barely hearing her.

"So, do you know?" she asked.

"What?…Oh, I'm sorry, Ginny. I didn't hear you."

"I noticed. I asked if you know when you're going to hold the quidditch tryouts this year."

"I have to talk to Ron. We're going to have to figure out how we're going to hold tryouts with hardly anyone on our team."

They both looked up as the portrait hole swung open and Ron and Hermione walked in.

"What did Dumbledore want?" Harry asked immediately as they came over to sit down. Ron and Hermione looked at each other than back at Harry.

"Um…Harry, we're…um…" Ron started.

"We're not allowed to tell you." Hermione said, turning red. She quickly busied herself with studying her hands.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you be allowed to tell me?" Harry asked.

"Oh come on, Hermione. I don't see what-" Ron started.

"No! You heard what Dumbledore said. We have to keep our word!" Hermione said fiercely, glaring at Ron.

Harry was looking at both of them, anger building inside him.

"This is about those things, in Diagon Alley, isn't it?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"The Zlam…" Ron started, then realized what he had said and shut his mouth.

"Do you know what Corfay did to me?" Harry asked looking back and forth between the two of them.

"No we don't," Hermione spoke up. "Harry, if Professor Dumbledore gave you information and you gave him your word you would tell no one, you would keep your word, right? That's what we're doing too. Please don't ask us again."

Harry looked at her and realized she was right. He wouldn't break his word to Dumbledore and felt guilty trying to get them to do it. He nodded at her and stood up.

"I'm going to bed. I don't feel much like talking right now," he turned and headed up the stairs without saying goodnight. He was feeling very angry with Dumbledore for keeping things from him. He just kept telling himself that it must be for a good reason. It was a long time before he finally fell asleep.

At breakfast the next morning, nobody said much. Harry wasn't mad at his friends, but they didn't seem to know what to say to him.

"What do we have first?" Harry asked them, wanting to break the silence.

"Potions…" Ron grumbled, but he looked relieved that Harry was speaking to them.

"Maybe Snape won't be so bad this year, after what happened last year and everything." Hermione suggested.

"I highly doubt Snape will be our best friend all of a sudden," Harry said. "I saw him the day he arrived and he wouldn't say two words to me. Just glared, as usual."

"He's probably still angry that you ended up saving his life, the ungrateful git," Ron said laughing.

They finished breakfast and headed down to the dungeons area. When the got there, most of the Slytherins were already present. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were at their usual spot near the front, they glared at Harry, Ron and Hermione when they walked in, then went back to whispering to each other. Professor Snape arrived soon after and the class began.

"We will be working on Memory Potions, to start," Snape said. "Can anyone tell me, what birds feathers we would use for one of these potions?" He looked around the room, smirking.

"Why does he always ask us questions he knows we haven't read about?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"You should've looked in you book after you bought it," Hermione said to him, waving her hand wildly. She was the only one who was doing so.

"Well sorry if I don't read the entire book the moment I get it," Ron mumbled.

Harry wasn't hearing any of this; he was feeling very strange all of a sudden. Then without warning, a sharp pain coursed through his body, causing him to cry out. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Mr. Potter," Snape started. "You must know the answer, since you can't even wait until I call on you to speak. Enlighten us." Snape stood in front of him, sneering.

Then Harry realized he knew the answer. He didn't know how, but he knew.

"Jobberknoll," he said still aching from the pain a moment earlier. "You would use Jobberknoll feathers." Snape glared at him, but turned and stalked back to the front of the class.

"How did you know that?" Ron asked him. Harry shrugged and turned back to look at Snape.

"Since you have obviously read all about this, why don't you tell us what else is required to make a memory potion, Mr. Potter?"

Harry cringed inwardly, knowing he had read nothing about this. But he started talking, without even realizing it. He named every ingredient needed for the potion. Snape couldn't possibly have been angrier, but Harry had done nothing wrong, so he stopped calling on him. They spent the rest of the class going over exactly what had to be done to make the potions, and would be starting them next week.

As they left the room when class ended, all the Gryffindors were congratulating Harry on ticking off Snape. Harry just nodded and began walking with his friends, who were looking at him cautiously.

"What?" Harry finally asked. He couldn't take the staring anymore. It was now after dinner and everyone was in the common room, talking and playing games.

"Did something happen to you in Snape's class?" Hermione asked. "You cried out like you were in pain before you answered all those questions."

"I did feel something, I don't know where it came from, but just for a second," Harry said quickly.

"How did you know all that stuff?" Ron asked. "Did you read the new book? I thought only Hermione did that." Hermione gave him a glare, but quickly turned her attention back to Harry.

"I didn't read the book, not yet. I just…knew. I can't explain it any more than that." He looked into their faces and saw they were very concerned. "Why is that such a bad thing? You always get the answers, Hermione, so I get a few and it's cause for alarm?"

"But I get them by reading the books Harry. You just…I don't know what you did, but something strange is going on." Hermione said. Just then Ginny came up to them and sat down.

"I hear you can read minds," she said smiling at Harry. "You really ticked Snape off today, didn't you?" Harry smiled at her, glad that someone was happy for him.

"Yes, he was pretty mad. Probably because he couldn't take points away from me for anything." He continued talking with Ginny for a few moments more, then she left to go join her friends again. When he turned around, he saw Ron and Hermione had left.

Harry guessed they must have gone to see Dumbledore. He felt anger over this because they knew more about what had happened to him then he did. He headed upstairs to the dorm and went to go sit on his bed, when and idea came to him and he went over to his trunk. After sifting through a few things, he pulled out the Marauder's Map. He checked the stairway to make sure no one was coming up, then pulled out his wand and pointed it at the map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said, and the map opened up to him. It was just as he suspected. In Dumbledore's office he saw there was, Hermione, Ron, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. Harry thought of going there now, but knew that whatever they wouldn't talk about anything in front of him. He thought of using the invisibility cloak, but knew that he couldn't fool Dumbledore with it. He looked down at the map again, and saw Lupin entering the office now.

Harry couldn't take it anymore; he had to know. He decided he was going to go to Dumbledore's office and just ask him what was going on. There was no reason that he could see, to keep information from him. And if there was a good reason, he wanted to know it. He folded the map and put it in his pocket, then headed downstairs.

When he was just about to the office, he pulled out the map again and saw that everyone was still there, but another name on the map caught his eye. Not in Dumbledore's office, but in the hospital wing, far in the back where he had never been.

The name was Corfay.

Harry's first impulse was to run down to the hospital wing. Corfay would be able to answer all of his questions. But he knew Madam Pomfrey was there, and he didn't think she'd let him in. He thought of the invisibility cloak and decided that would be his only way, so he turned and headed down the hall.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

Harry shoved the map into his pocket and spun around, Ron and Hermione were standing behind him.

"I…um, I was coming…I needed to speak with Dumbledore. What are you doing here?" Harry asked trying to sound like he hadn't known they were there.

"We needed to speak with him too," Hermione answered, looking at him suspiciously. They stood there in awkward silence for a moment.

"Well, are you going in then?" Hermione asked him. Harry was stuck, he wanted to get back to his trunk and his cloak so he could find Corfay, but he couldn't let Ron and Hermione know this.

"Yes, um…see you later," Harry said to them as he walked past. They both watched him as he went to the statue and said the password to get into the office. When he stepped inside, Dumbledore, Lupin and McGonagall were deep in conversation. They looked up at him as he came in the room.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, "What is it?" He smiled kindly but Harry could see something was bothering him.

"Professor," Harry began, "Why do you have Ron and Hermione watching me?"

"Did they tell you I had them watching you?"

"No, but I know you talked to them last night and they –"

"Harry, there is something going on that is very big," Dumbledore interrupted, "Voldemort was after Corfay for something and we don't know what it is. My fear is that he gave it, whatever it is, to you."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"We weren't sure before. I asked your friends just to watch for anything unusual. I wasn't certain if there would be any signs of what was done to you and I know your tendency to keep things to yourself. I am sorry if I upset you but I needed to know."

"So then, when I knew the answers today, in potions, that was part of what Corfay gave me."

"We believe so, but that's certainly not what Voldemort is after, which is why we need to know anything that happens, no matter how small, that is out of the ordinary for you." Harry thought about asking them why they didn't just talk with Corfay, since he was in the school. But he didn't want them to know he knew yet as he wanted to speak with Corfay himself. Instead he thanked them and said goodnight and left to head back to his tower.

When Harry was completely out of sight, he pulled out the map again, Corfay was still in the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey was still in her office. He sighed and went back to the tower, when he stepped into the common room it was mostly deserted. Hermione and Ron were still up waiting for him, so he went over and sat down.

"What did you need to talk to him about?" Ron asked. Harry thought about it for a moment, then decided he would tell them the truth. He explained how he had originally gone to the office when he looked at the Marauder's Map, to ask what was going on. Then he told how he had seen Corfay's name, and was just about to head down there, when they came out and spotted him.

"So Corfay is here then?" Ron asked with wide eyes. "Do you think he'll try to hurt you again?"

"I don't think he tried to hurt me last time," Harry said. "You two didn't know he was here?"

"Of course not!" Hermione said. "Why would we?"

"Well Dumbledore said he asked you to tell him if I acted…strangely."

"Yes he did, he also explained to us that the creatures in Diagon Alley were Zlamfimians. But he didn't go into great detail on what they were." Hermione told him. Harry explained the little bit of information Dumbledore had given him about the Zlam.

"Do you think we could find anything on them in the library?" He asked them.

"No," Ron answered. "Dumbledore told us we wouldn't find anything, I think he was mostly talking to Hermione though." Hermione gave him an annoyed look.

"He just knew that we would want to know, to help Harry," she explained. "But we apparently don't keep records of them in our library. The only place that has them is the Ministry of Magic."

"Ron, do you think if we asked Percy really nicely…" Harry began.

"NO! No, Percy would not do anything like that for us and if we asked him he would tell on us. My dad already saw them come after you and he probably would realize what we we're up to as well."

"There must be some way we can find out about them!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I know one way," Harry said. "I want to go down and talk with Corfay.

"Harry no! It could be dangerous!" Hermione said.

"Do you know another way?"

"We can find one…" she said in a small voice. "Please just wait, just a little while, until we're sure there is no other way. Please?" Hermione pleaded with him. Harry didn't want to, but he knew she was probably right, so he agreed, but he didn't say how long he would wait.

"Alright everyone, take your seats," Professor McGonagall said. It was the end of the first week and they were in transfiguration. They were going to be starting off right away with practical lessons. They had to take their ink bottles, change the ink into water, and then change it back. McGonagall started to explain how to do this, but Harry wasn't listening to her, he started to get the strange feeling again. He felt pain, but not so much that it made him cry out. His vision blurred for a moment and when everything came back into focus he was fine, and he knew how to perform the change.

"I want you all to try what I've told you now," he heard her say. He picked up his wand, pointed it at his ink bottle, and watched as the liquid changed color, until it was perfectly clear. Ron, who was sitting next to him, had just started to ask him a question when he noticed Harry's bottle.

"How did you do that?" he asked in amazement. He glanced over his shoulder at Hermione who still hadn't changed hers yet and looked back. Harry just smiled at him.

"I just, followed the instructions," he lied. He had not even heard them and he wasn't sure how to explain what had happened, because he didn't know.

"What's all the talking about?" McGonagall said coming over to them. "Oh, I see Mr. Potter was paying attention, see?" she said holding up his bottle. Everyone in the class looked at the bottle and then at Harry.

"Is it really water?" Malfoy asked from the back of the room. "Or did he just change the color?" Professor McGonagall handed the bottle back to Harry.

"Care to tell us, Mr. Potter?" she asked. Harry picked up the bottle and took a sip. If it had been ink still, he would have spit it back out instantly, but it had indeed changed completely. Harry swallowed it and nodded his head.

"Yes, it's changed." He said smiling at McGonagall.

"Good, now change it back."

The class watched as Harry pointed his wand at the bottle again, and in seconds the color flooded back into it. Before anyone could say anything, Harry dipped his quill into it and began writing, to show he had done it correctly.

Everyone immediately went back to their own bottles of ink, inspired by Harry's success. Professor McGonagall gave him a rare smile, and started off around the room again to see who needed help. Ron just looked at Harry for a few moments.

"I think you can read minds, you know." Ron told him finally.

"You mean you think I'm not smart enough to have done this on my own? I'm insulted," Harry said jokingly. "But if that is what I'm doing, I wish I could control it," he added.

Ron just shook his head and went back to his own ink bottle.

When class ended McGonagall asked Harry to stay for a moment because she needed to speak with him.

"Mr. Potter, that was quite impressive what you did today," she said.

"Thank you, professor," he replied, uneasily. He knew she didn't keep him after just to say that.

"Did you follow the instructions I gave you, or did you do something else?"

"Something else?" he asked, not wanting to tell her. She gave him a stern look and he knew he wasn't fooling her.

"I don't know how I knew it. But I didn't listen to your instructions. I got the same feeling I had in Potions a few days ago, and then I just knew. It wasn't as strong as it was last time though, it didn't hurt as much." She considered what he had said, and nodded.

"I am going to tell Dumbledore that it happened again. We need you to tell us whenever these things happen. I know you think you can handle this and I know you can take care of yourself. But you even admit you don't know what is causing this, so until we find out, you must tell us anything that happens. Do you understand?"

"Can the Zlam read minds?" he asked her suddenly.

"No."

"Do you know what is happening to me then? Or do you know why Professor Dumbledore is keeping it from me?"

"If he is keeping anything from you than he has his reasons. Now will you promise to tell us if this continues to happen?" she said ignoring his other question.

"Yes," he said with a sigh.

"Good, thank you. You may go now."

Harry turned away and walked out, without another word.

That weekend Harry told Ron they needed to talk about the quidditch tryouts.

"We need to find three chasers and two beaters, and fast," Harry said.

"So where do we start?" Ron asked.

"Well, we should probably do the same as last year. Let everyone sign up for what position they want, then hold a scrimmage on the pitch so we can see how they do."

"Do you think we'll need more than a week for this?"

"I don't know. Let's see how many people sign up, then we can decide."

As it turned out, mostly everyone in Gryffindor wanted a spot on the team. So Harry and Ron spent two weeks watching game after game of quidditch being played, and went through the lists every night to see who was best. The last night after tryouts, Harry and Ron sat in the locker rooms; going over the names they had left.

"I definitely think that the Creeveys keep trying out just because you're on the team," Ron said laughing. "Neither of them can concentrate within 50 feet of a bludger!"

"I agree, but your sister did outstanding as a chaser," Harry said looking at Ron.

"So did Dean Thomas and Su Chang," Ron said. "Anyone else we need to consider there?"

"Well, I would say Ray Deasen, instead of Dean Thomas," Harry added. "For chasers anyway, Dean did much better as a beater."

"Then we just need one more beater, and from what I saw, the best person besides Ray, was Natalie MacDonald."

"Yes, she was surprisingly good, I didn't think she'd be able to hit the bludgers so hard from looking at her."

"So, do we have a team then?" Ron asked. He was looking quite tired from two weeks of this.

"Yes, I would say so," Harry answered, smiling. "Let's head back up and tell everyone."

They stood up and headed towards the door, but Harry crashed into Ron as Ron had stopped short. He looked around him, and saw a very large snake blocking the doorway. Harry gasped as he recognized Nagini.

Nagini raised his head and looked at Ron and Harry. Then he looked around the room, as if he was searching for something. He started to hiss, but Harry understood him.

"Where is he?"

"Where is who?" Harry asked in Parseltongue.

"The librarian. I can feel him, where is he hiding?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," Harry said calmly. "We're the only ones here." He glanced over at Ron who was white as a sheet, looking back and forth from Harry to Nagini. Then Nagini started to move forward, straight towards them. He raised himself up, and being 12 feet long, came face to face with them. He looked closely at Ron, who was frozen to the spot, and then moved over to Harry. Harry stared back at him trying not to show the fear he was feeling, then saw Nagini's eyes register recognition.

"It's you…" he hissed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, clearly not understanding.

"My master will be very pleased to know this," Nagini said, then he slithered away and out the door.

It was a long time before either Harry or Ron spoke. They stood their looking after where Nagini had just been; finally Ron broke the silence.

"What did he say?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"He was looking for a librarian," Harry said.

"Was he looking for Madam Pince?" Ron asked, confused.

"I don't think so. We have to go to Dumbledore with this now." Harry said firmly. He looked at Ron, who was not as pale as before and then started towards the door. They both walked into the school and headed straight for Dumbledore's office.

When they reached Dumbledore's office, Harry said the password and they both ran in, but he stopped short when he heard voices. After a moment he realized it was Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, and they were arguing.

"I forbid you to say anything about it!" Fudge said in a loud voice.

"Cornelius, you know this is wrong, there is no reason Harry shouldn't be allowed to know," Dumbledore said, sounding perfectly calm.

"This discussion is over. I have told you what my decision is and I expect you to abide by it." Fudge said looking carefully at Dumbledore. Dumbledore just returned the look, not saying anything. Harry, who was very intrigued at this point, finally stepped into the room and cleared his throat; Ron stepped in behind him, but kept his eyes down.

"Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak with you, it's important."

Fudge glared at Harry with such contempt that Harry had to avert his eyes. He knew Fudge thought he was, to put it nicely, traumatized by certain events in his life, but he didn't think he hated him.

"Very well Mr. Potter, are we quite finished, Cornelius?" Dumbledore said looking at Fudge.

"Yes, we are finished," he replied in a low voice. He walked straight at Harry and Ron, forcing them to jump out of the way, and left the office.

"What were you talking about," Harry asked as soon as Fudge was gone.

"First things first, Harry. Tell me why you came here, what has happened?"

Harry told him of their encounter with Nagini, how he was looking for a librarian, and then how he said it was him.

"Why did he say that?" Harry asked, looking directly into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Harry, I don't have all the answers. I know more now than I did before, and some people would rather I kept this information to myself. But I think this is not the time for these games, and so I will tell you what I know."

"On September 1st, when Professor McGonagall and myself did not come into the great hall right away, it was because we found one of the Zlam outside the school. He was near the lake, crawling towards it, but never made it and passed out when he was almost there. I found him when I came across with the first years, and brought him inside with us. When we came to Professor McGonagall, I told her to send the first years in without us, and we took him to the hospital wing."

"Corfay," Harry said.

"Yes. He was looking much as you did after I found you passed out in your common room. He didn't wake up until some days later, but he wouldn't give us any information on what he had done. I sent a letter to the Ministry of Magic, asking them to send anything to me that could help us figure out what he did. At first, Cornelius Fudge was reluctant to share anything, claiming it was confidential, but others within the ministry put pressure on him, so he came here tonight with answers."

"So then what did Corfay do to me?"

"As far as we know, he gave you knowledge, of many different kinds of magic that you have never been exposed to. That's why you are able to perform the spells in your classes without being told how."

"Why does it hurt then?"

"The Zlam are able to pass everything they have learned onto their young so when they die, their knowledge remains. When they do this, the young ones are filled with the information immediately, and can perform spells and make potions like they had done it all their lives. It was never meant to be given, to someone not of their species. That is why it's affecting you differently. It's not coming naturally, you have to force the information to come, and it's painful."

"Um, why did he do this? He said Voldemort was after him…" Harry trailed off.

"We don't know all of the magic that the Zlam can do. Voldemort somehow found out they could do something that would be to his advantage, and wanted to use it."

"Can't he just get it from one of the other Zlam? Not that I want him to, but why just Corfay?"

"Corfay was the keeper of their knowledge, a librarian, so to speak. Voldemort must have sent Nagini here to spy, knowing he could not get in himself unnoticed. Snakes are the natural predators for the Zl

am. That is another reason the Ministry wanted them away from us, they would draw snakes of all kinds, including basilisks, to wherever they resided."

"Then, when Corfay gave the knowledge to me…he was doing it so Voldemort wouldn't be after him anymore?"

"Cowardly of him, but yes. He knew Voldemort was after you and that you were constantly under guard. I'm assuming that's the only excuse he could make to rid himself of any guilt, knowing that there were so many people protecting you, you'd be safer with the information Voldemort is after than he would be."

"Is there a way for Harry to give it back?" Ron spoke up finally.

"We don't know, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said looking very grim. Harry thought there was something still that he was not telling them, but he decided to let it go for now. He decided it was time he paid a visit to Corfay.

When Harry and Ron got back to the common room, they found a lot of people there waiting for them. They had completely forgotten about the quidditch tryouts! Harry went through the list of people who they chose, and stayed downstairs for a short while to celebrate with everyone else, but as soon as he could, he got upstairs to the dorm.

He grabbed his invisibility cloak out of his trunk, and grabbed the Marauder's Map as well. He turned around and saw Hermione standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" she said looking suspiciously at what he was holding. "Why did it take you and Ron so long to get back tonight?"

"Hermione it's not what you," he started, then changed his mind. "I'm going to speak with Corfay. There's something I have to ask him."

"Harry…" Hermione began.

"Don't try and stop me, you don't understand. Dumbledore told us some things tonight but he didn't know all the answers. I'm positive Corfay does, and I have to ask him now."

"When did this happen?" Hermione asked. She wasn't going to give up, so Harry explained what had happened since the run in with Nagini.

"So you see why I have to go? I need to know what Voldemort is after, and if I even have it."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you can't…"

"Yes I can, and I will. That cloak is still big enough to fit two of us under it, and we're both small."

"Hey, I'm not small," Harry said giving her a pained look. She ignored him and walked over, taking part of the cloak in her hands.

"Are we going, then?" she asked. He looked into her eyes for a few moments, torn between wanting her to come, and not wanting her near Corfay, then nodded.

They went downstairs with the cloak in Harry's pocket and the map in Hermione's. Ron was over in a corner talking with some of the new quidditch team members, so they moved over to the portrait hole, and stepped through. When the portrait was shut, they slipped the cloak over themselves and set off down the corridor.

They reached the hospital wing easily and slipped inside. Harry followed the map, past Madam Pomfrey's office and into the very back where he had never been before. They found Corfay, lying on a bed, staring at the ceiling. They pulled off the cloak and stepped up beside him.

"Corfay?" Harry said in a low voice. "Can you hear me? I need to speak with you."

Corfay turned his head ever so slightly and looked at Harry.

"Harry Potter!" he said sounding frightened. His voice was so low they could hardly hear him.

"Corfay, I know that you gave me your…knowledge," Harry said rushing forward. "I need to know what Voldemort is after. How can I find out what it is?"

"No…musn't speak of it…musn't, musn't…" Corfay mumbled.

"Corfay, you have to tell me. If you gave me something that he wants then I need to know what it is. It's the only chance I'll have of stopping him!"

"Maybe we should just give it back to him, let him deal with it," Hermione said from behind Harry. Corfay's eyes widened with fright.

"No please! I can't, he will kill me!"

"And you don't think he'll kill me? He's been trying to do it since I was born, why should anything be different now?" Harry asked angrily.

"He needs a spell…he needs to be able to…to…" Corfay began.

"To what?" Harry asked.

"To extract blood from within him. Blood that is not his own. It is very ancient magic, and it can't be done by him. It is a spell that requires much energy and power and since he is the one from whom the blood is being taken, he can't be the one to do the spell."

"Corfay, if you're so afraid of him, why didn't you just do the spell, why did you run when you knew it would make him angrier?"

"Because if I performed the spell, I would've been killed and I was the only one with the knowledge to do it. So I told him I agreed, and I ran."

"He told you he was going to kill you? Good way to recruit help."

"No, he wouldn't have killed me. I told you, it requires much power and energy, more than I am capable of withstanding. The strain would have killed me, but he didn't care, as long as he lived."

"You mean, if you do the spell, you die?" Harry asked, all the color draining from his face. No wonder Nagini was pleased.

"Harry," Hermione said, "you have to give it back to him, do you know how?"

"No!" Corfay said fiercely

"Why not? I don't want to die either!"

"You don't know how yet…"

"Well I'll give it to your friends then, they seemed to want it. I'm sure they'll tell me how to," Harry said thinking of the three Zlam he saw in Diagon Alley.

"You can't. A Zlam can only accept it if they are chosen to be knowledge keeper, there are tests they must go through to become one, and at this time I am the only one." Corfay said, seeming to smile."

"Then how were you able to give it to me? I didn't go through any tests…"

"You are not a Zlam."

Harry and Hermione just looked at him hatefully, but they couldn't see a way around this. Just then, Madam Pomfrey came into the room, carrying a potion. Harry and Hermione grabbed for the cloak, but they were too late, she had seen them.

They were in for another shock, however, when she walked right past them and went over to Corfay; she gave them a glance and looked down again. Harry and Hermione were confused, but they didn't want to get in trouble, so they didn't ask. They watched as she lifted Corfay's head, as he could barely do it himself, and let him sip the potion.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked finally.

"We just came to see him, had a question to ask, but we'll go now…" Hermione trailed off. Harry looked at her and saw she seemed to be horrified. He looked at Corfay and took a step back.

His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and his eyes were bulging. For a few horrible moments they stood and watched, unable to do anything, until he stopped moving, completely.

"What…what, did you do?" Harry asked looking at Madam Pomfrey. She was looking at Corfay and smiling, then she turned her head towards them. Her eyes were black.

"Now you are all that's left," she said smiling wickedly at Harry. Then before either of them could move, she disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then over at Corfay. Harry went over to him but knew he was dead, he wasn't breathing anymore. He walked back over to Hermione who was still staring at Corfay.

"Hermione, c'mon. We have to tell someone what's happened. Hermione?"

She didn't answer, just kept staring. Harry finally put his hand up and waved it in front of her face, she looked at him.

"He's dead, isn't he? She killed him…" Hermione trailed off looking back at Corfay.

"Yes, and we have to get someone and tell them, now. Hermione? Hermione!" he said loudly. Harry regretted bringing her with him. This was not something he ever would have had her see; she wasn't taking it well. She looked at him again and then came back to herself.

"You're right, we need to find someone, and we should check on Madam Pomfrey too," she hurried past him towards Pomfrey's office. Harry grabbed the cloak and the map and ran after her.

Madam Pomfrey was in her office, unconscious, on the floor. They ran over to her and tried to shake her awake, but she didn't respond.

"At least we know she's still alive, let's go find Dumbledore," Harry said. They both set off into the corridor as fast as they could, once again using the cloak. They went right into Dumbledore's office and found him there talking to the usual group. Everyone turned to look at Harry and Hermione.

"Corfay's dead," Harry said before anyone could say anything.

"What?" Sirius asked standing up. "How?"

"A shapeshifter, disguised as Madam Pomfrey," Hermione spoke up. "She's alive, but unconscious in her office."

"What were you two doing in the hospital wing?" Snape asked glaring at them. Harry looked over at Hermione and she was looking back at him. They had been doing something they weren't supposed to, but what did that matter now? He had answers that they wouldn't have had if he didn't go down there tonight.

"I went down there because I needed to ask Corfay a few questions," Harry said looking at Snape.

"Severus we will deal with that later," Dumbledore said then. Please go down and see that Madam Pomfrey is okay, Minerva, please go with him and I will be down shortly." They both nodded at him, Snape somewhat reluctantly, and left the office.

"Now please explain what happened, did he tell you anything?" Dumbledore said turning to them. Harry explained exactly what Corfay had told him, and how he was now stuck with the knowledge. Then they explained what the shapeshifter had done, and Hermione once again had a glazed over look to her eyes.

"Why would he do that?" Sirius yelled clearly furious at Corfay.

"Because he was afraid," Lupin answered him.

"That's no excuse!" Sirius shouted.

"Sirius, please," Dumbledore said. "We agree with you that it is a horrible excuse, but there is nothing we can do about that now. Let's work on finding a way to solve the problem at hand." Then he turned to Harry and Hermione.

"If there is nothing else for now then I think it's best you both get to sleep. Miss. Granger, will you be alright?" Hermione nodded at him. Then she and Harry both said goodnight and headed back to their tower.

The next morning, Harry felt himself being shaken awake. He grabbed his glasses and saw Ron standing next to his bed.

"Where did you go with Hermione last night?" Ron asked sounding almost angry.

"To see Corfay, what's wrong with you?"

"Corfay? So, you guys didn't…never mind. What did he say?" Ron asked, sounding embarrassed.

"He's dead."

"What? How?"

Harry went through the explanation of what happened again. When he finished Ron was speechless.

"So you haven't seen Hermione yet?" Harry asked him. "She seemed very upset by everything last night. I hope she's okay." Ron just shook his head. Harry got out of bed and dressed quickly, then they both went downstairs to look for Hermione. She was sitting in a corner talking with Ginny. They both smiled as Harry and Ron came over.

"Good morning," Hermione said.

"How are you?" Harry asked her.

"Better," she replied, smiling. Ginny just looked at them confused, but didn't say anything about it. Instead she pointed to a piece of paper on the wall near the door.

"They posted that there's going to be a trip to Hogsmeade on Halloween. Think you'll be allowed to go?" she asked looking at Harry.

"Who knows," Harry said. "I'm getting so sick of this though. I'm gonna be forced to spend the rest of my life with a chaperone the way things are looking."

"We don't know that yet. Let's just wait and see." Ron said.

As the weeks passed Harry started gaining more use of his new knowledge. He knew the answers to all the questions, and could do most of the spells and potions on his first try. It was hardly hurting at all now, and he came to enjoy it. It was nice to give Hermione a little competition, even though he knew it wasn't the same.

When it was almost Halloween and no one had come to Harry yet to tell him if he could or couldn't go to Hogsmeade, he decided to just go and ask. He made his way up to the head table one morning after breakfast, and went straight over to Dumbledore.

"Professor, I wanted to ask you about Hogsmeade," he said immediately.

"Do you not want to go?" Dumbledore said smiling at him. Harry just looked at him as what he said seeped in.

"Well, no sir, I mean yes sir. I do want to go, very much. I was just checking because of last year…"

"Last year, yes. Well when we let you go, you got into a bit of trouble and when we made you stay, you got into worse trouble. I don't see how either was the better situation so we'll just have to keep a close eye on you. I know you'll use common sense," he said pointedly. Harry just smiled at him and nodded. He thanked him and went back to his table.

Halloween came and it was a beautiful day, perfect for a trip to Hogsmeade. Harry wasn't as excited about this year's trip as he had been there several times now. He was just looking forward to getting his mind off things and having fun.

When they arrived, they found the place more crowded than usual.

"Did every wizard in England decide to come today?" Ron asked looking around.

"I don't think they'd all fit, but they sure tried," Harry said.

"Well where to first?" Hermione asked.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, I know we just got here but I really want some butterbeer!" Ron said. When they got there, Harry said he would get the drinks and the others went to get a table.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around while waiting for the drinks to see Cho standing behind him.

"Cho! How are you? I haven't seen you all year!" Harry said excitedly, then he realized how he was sounding and lowered his voice a little.

"How was your summer?" he asked in a calmer voice.

"It was wonderful, I traveled all around Europe with my parents, I only wish there'd been more time. I want to go again, but with…someone else." She said smiling. Harry could feel his face turning red, Cho just kept grinning at him. "How was your summer?" she asked finally.

"Not nearly as fun as yours," Harry said, not wanting to go into what had happened. "Just uneventful, I don't want to bore you with it."

"I heard you stayed at Hogwart's," she said, then lowered her voice. "Was it because of…You-Know-Who?"

"Here you are three butterbeers!" said a loud voice behind Harry that startled them both. He turned to the person at the counter.

"Thank you, um…" he said then turned back to Cho. "Would you like to sit with us? I'll get one for you too…" Cho smiled and nodded, Harry spun around and ordered another drink. When they had all four, they headed over to where Ron and Hermione were waiting.

The four of them spent the day together, looking in all the shops, stocking up on candy and trick toys, and staying clear of the Shrieking Shack. Harry could never remember having so much fun at Hogsmeade. There was only one point where it seemed as though there might be trouble. As they were leaving Honeydukes, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were just walking in.

"Potter, I can't believe the headmaster let you out of his sight!" Malfoy said feigning amazement. "I thought you were far too precious, you might be hurt!" Then he doubled over in laughter and Crabbe and Goyle joined him.

"I'll be fine, but you might not be," Harry said taking a step forward, then he felt a hand on his arm. He turned and saw Cho, shaking her head at him to tell him no. The effect this had on Harry was different then when Ron or Hermione was doing this, and he immediately calmed down.

"Do you always let your girlfriend tell you what to do, Potter?" Malfoy asked sneering.

"At least he has one!" Ron spoke up next to Harry. "You'll be lucky to find anyone besides your mum who wants to stare at your ugly face day after day."

Malfoy looked as if he were about to lunge at Ron, but the shopkeeper came over to them and told them to quit blocking the doorway, customers were waiting to get in. The two groups walked past each other, glaring, but as soon as they were out of the shop Harry and Ron were laughing.

"He was redder than a beet!" Harry managed to get out between laughs.

"We're just lucky you didn't end up fighting," Hermione yelled over their laughter. "You could have gotten in trouble." She looked at Cho for backup and Cho nodded, but she was smiling all the while at Harry and Ron. They began walking again, Harry and Cho a few steps behind Ron and Hermione.

"So, you tell your friends I'm your girlfriend?" Cho asked smiling.

"What? Oh, no…Ron was just saying that to…" Harry began turning red.

"It's okay, I don't mind," she interrupted.

"Good…wait, you don't?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"No, I don't." She slipped her hand into his and they continued walking. Harry couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day, and realized when it was time to go, how much he wanted nothing more in the world then to just stay there forever.

When they arrived at the school, everyone went to their common rooms to drop off their belongings before heading down to the great hall. Harry was still feeling very giddy and floated over to the table with his friends.

"What's gotten into him?" Seamus asked as they sat down.

"He's in love," Hermione said smiling.

"Oh," he replied, then went back to talking with Dean and Neville. Hermione gave him an annoyed look but turned back to her friends quickly. Finally the food appeared and everyone dug in. They joked and laughed and talked about the day with each other. Harry had not felt this good in a long time.

"Do you want to go over some of those new strategies tonight?" Ron asked him.

"Sure," Harry said happily.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to concentrate?" Ron asked smiling.

"Oh shut up, of course I'll be able to!" Harry said elbowing Ron.

"Well, shall we head up then, unless you want to eat more?"

"I couldn't no matter how much I wanted to. Coming Hermione?" She nodded and the three of them got up and headed for the doors. The feast was over so most of the students were starting to get up anyway. They went through into the hallway and stopped short. Something was lying a few feet away.

They walked over to it slowly and Harry realized it wasn't something, it was someone. He barely heard Hermione scream as she turned and ran back into the great hall, everything was muted for him and he felt all the strength drain out of him, as he sunk to his knees.

It was Mrs. Figg…and she was dead.

"Mrs. Figg?…Mrs. Figg!" Harry said, shaking her. "Mrs. Figg! Please, answer me!" He didn't notice that most of the school had now come into the hallway and were forming a wide circle around him. Ron was in the center as well, though he wasn't moving, just staring in disbelief. Then Dumbledore broke through with the other teachers and walked straight over to Harry, who was still trying to wake Mrs. Figg.

"Harry, please step away from her, there's nothing you can do."

"But…" he started. Though he didn't know what he was going to say. He just looked at her lying there with her eyes wide open, but unseeing.

"Come now, Mr. Potter. Please, do as the headmaster says," Professor McGonagall said. Harry finally tore his eyes away from the body and stood up. He noticed Hermione for the first time was standing near him looking about to faint.

"Take them to my office, Minerva, please?" she nodded and they headed off as Dumbledore told the rest of the students to head back to their towers.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the office and waited. Harry was feeling numb from the shock of everything.

"I've known her for as long as I can remember," he said quietly. They both looked at him, and Hermione started crying. Harry started to move towards her, but Ron was out of his seat immediately, he went over to her and put his arms around her.

"It's okay Hermione, everything will be okay," he said over and over. Harry just looked at her, feeling horribly guilty for how she was feeling. If it hadn't been for him, none of this would have happened. They all looked up when they heard people behind them. Dumbledore came in followed by Lupin, McGonagall, Snape and Sirius. Dumbledore had something in his hand, which he handed to Harry.

"This was found on her," was all he said.

Harry looked at the piece of paper in his hand and realized it was a letter with his name on it. He slowly tore it open and began to read.

Here's your Secret Keeper back. I've gotten all I need from her. I thought it fitting to kill her exactly 15 years from the day I killed your parents. Soon all your friends will join her, as will you. Give yourself to me now, and I may spare some of them, but should you choose to ignore my generous offer, I promise you they will all die painfully.

Harry stared at the letter, feeling anger building inside him, then he crushed it in his hands.

"I know what you're thinking Harry, this wasn't your fault. You know he's lying, he'll kill you and kill all of us anyway," Sirius said to him.

"Well how else can I protect all of you?" Harry asked. "I can't fight him and it seems he can get to any of you!"

"He would never keep his word, Sirius…is right." Snape said, seeming to struggle with his words.

"Mrs. Figg…" Harry started. "I've known her my entire life. She used to watch me every time the Dursley's went somewhere because they thought I would burn the house down, or something. Then one time, she was ill, I think she broke her leg, and they had to take me with them. I was so…happy, because it meant I wouldn't have to sit around listening to her talk about cats," Harry said, feeling his face turn red from shame. "But now she's dead, and she'll never talk again, and no matter what any of you say it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me!" He had a very large lump in his throat that he was forcing to stay down.

"I think you are being too hard on yourself," Sirius said.

"Harry. Listen to me very carefully." Dumbledore said. "Voldemort is using your love for your friends against you. He wants you to feel as if it is your fault so you will play into his trap. You must understand, if he had managed to kill you, whether it happened 15 years ago or yesterday, Mrs. Figg would most likely still be dead, as would many of the people in this room. He wants to kill anyone that is opposed to him and that is exactly what he is doing."

Harry looked at him and nodded, though privately he still disagreed. He looked over at his friends. They both looked much better now, though Hermione looked extremely tired.

"I want to go to bed now." Harry said to no one in particular.

"Yes, I think that's probably best right now, do you need to see Madam Pomfrey first?"

Harry shook his head no, Sirius looked like he was going to argue but Dumbledore put up a hand to stop him.

"Goodnight then, you three. Sleep well."

Harry didn't talk much over the next few days. He still knew the answers in class, but didn't bother to answer any questions unless he was called on. He ate lunch with his friends still, but didn't join in on the conversation. Finally after a week of this, Ron decided to try to get through to him.

"You can't let this control you, you know," he said coming into the boys' dorm one night. "You're letting him win."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked coldly. "No one is controlling me."

"You're wrong…you're not even talking to anyone anymore."

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

"You know what I mean. We haven't had any quidditch practices and you haven't hung out in the common room at all. I think you wouldn't even go to class if it weren't required. You can't let him get to you like this."

"Can't let WHO get to me Ron?" Harry said glaring at him. Ron narrowed his eyes and looked straight into Harry's

"Voldemort." Ron said. Harry just looked at him, shocked that he said the name.

"I'm not letting him win, Ron," Harry said with a sigh. "He's doing that without my help."

"Well then stop sitting around moping about it and do something. You know that you have whatever spell it is he needs so let's try and figure it out. Or if anything figure out how to get rid of it." Ron looked at Harry in exasperation.

"I know you're right, I know it. It's just I've never had someone I knew die before. I mean I knew my parents, but not the same way. Do you understand?"

"Yes I do, more than you know. My grandfather died when I was 10. It was horrible for me, for my whole family. He was so close to us, and he always took my side when my mother got angry with me. I know what it's like to lose someone, but the pain does fade."

"This isn't like that though, I didn't love Mrs. Figg, but she died protecting me."

"So you shouldn't let her death be in vain." Harry looked at Ron for a long time before speaking again.

"How did you get so smart, Ron?" he said with a grin.

"I've always been this way, haven't you noticed?" Ron said. "C'mon, lets get out of here and do something, anything."

Harry hopped off his bed and they headed downstairs together.

Quidditch practice resumed as the first match of the year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, drew closer. Harry and Ron were trying to show the new chasers all the formations that they knew from their old team, but most of the players were already good enough that not much training was required.

The day of the match came and Harry got up early. He met Ron down in the great hall for breakfast and they talked about the match ahead of them while they ate. Soon the hall was busy with people and the rest of the team joined them. No one appeared to be very nervous, but Harry and Ron knew otherwise. Even they still got nervous before a game, and the first game was the worst for that.

Draco walked over to their table then, with a sneer on, as usual.

"Trying to give out some last minute tips? Doesn't matter, your new team has no hope of beating us."

"Any member of our team is worth your whole team put together, Malfoy," Harry said angrily.

"When we win this game today you'll see just how pitiful your team really is," Malfoy said glaring at them.

"You're team has never beaten ours while you were the seeker, so I think you should shut your mouth," Ron said. Malfoy threw Ron an ugly look, then headed back to his table.

"Let's head out now, it's almost time anyway," Harry said. They left the great hall together and headed for the pitch. When they were in the locker rooms everyone got changed and Harry gave a small speech.

"I know that this team can win. You're all wonderful players and we have practiced so hard. I know we'll all do our parts, so lets go out there and win!"

They all cheered and headed out to the pitch. Harry shook hands with the Slytherin captain, and they all kicked off at sound of the whistle.

The game started off immediately with Slytherin taking the lead 10-0 over Gryffindor. But there was a penalty called on them for stooging, and Gryffindor was tied soon after. Seamus Finnigan was doing the commentary and he wasn't nearly as outspoken as Lee Jordan used to be.

Soon Gryffindor was in the lead 50-10 and Harry still hadn't spotted the snitch. He looked over at Malfoy who was staring intently below them, then watched as Malfoy took off, diving towards the ground. Harry didn't see the snitch anywhere in that direction, but was just about to dive after him when he glanced towards the goal posts, and spotted it near Ron. He took one more look at Malfoy who was still streaking downwards, and sped off towards Ron. When he was close enough, he reached forward and snatched it easily out of the air.

The crowd erupted in applause and cheers and Harry flew once around the stands with the snitch held high before landing near the rest of his team. He forced his way closer to Malfoy, who was glaring furiously at him.

"Nice try. You were attempting a Wronski Feint, weren't you?" Malfoy looked away, refusing to speak with Harry. Harry just kept grinning at him.

"You really should leave that to the professionals, you know. You're just not…experienced enough." He kept smiling at Malfoy as he walked away, then headed off to the locker rooms to get changed. The rest of the team was just leaving, still talking about their win.

"You guys did wonderful today, you really did," Harry said to the rest of the team as he passed them "You played better than I could've hoped for!" They smiled and thanked him as the headed back to the school. When he got inside he began to change, he wanted to get up to the common room for the celebration that would surely already be started. But when he turned to go, something in the doorway caught his eye, a thin black cloak, it appeared, was slithering under the door, all by itself. Harry watched in horror as it moved towards him, slowly. He backed away from it, staring in horror and pulled out his wand to try a few curses but they had no effect, it kept moving forward.

Suddenly, it began to wrap itself around him, and he felt its clammy touch, which sent a shiver up his spine. As he struggled, it slid itself over his face, trying to smother him and he was unable to cry out for assistance. He couldn't breathe; he was getting weaker and was starting to feel dizzy. If he passed out, he would surely die. He felt the darkness start to take him as he clutched his wand in his hand.

Harry could barely even move, but somehow was able to push the black thing partly away from his face, though it didn't help. It had closed off any air from getting in and there was precious little of it left. Suddenly, a familiar feeling came to him and he had an idea, he clutched his wand tightly, pointing it away from himself into the folds of the creature and used the last of his energy to cry out the words:

"Expecto Patronum!"

Almost immediately Harry felt air rushing back to him. He looked around to see the black thing being pushed away by the stag, Prongs. It hit the ground and slithered quickly under the door.

Harry sat there, shaking from lack of oxygen, taking in deep breaths of wonderful air. He knew that he had used his other knowledge to defeat whatever the black thing was, but still didn't know how. He needed to figure out a way to open his mind to be able to control it, use it when necessary. If it hadn't happened just when it did, he would be dead right now. After a few minutes, he decided to go back to the school and tell Dumbledore what had happened. He stood up, and took a few shaky steps towards the door, stopped to calm down again, and continued. It seemed it was still a problem to stay conscious and he couldn't figure out why. It took a long time to make it back to the school, when he finally made it inside; Professor McGonagall was just heading outside.

"Where have you been?" she asked him with a severe look. "We just found out you never went back to your common room." Then she took a closer look and realized something was wrong.

"Mr. Potter…are you okay?"

Harry was now swaying on his feet, he looked at her and tried to talk, but nothing came out. He hit his knees, and fell forward to the ground.

When Harry opened his eyes everything was blurry, he reached around, found his glasses and put them on. He was in the hospital wing.

"Well, I almost made it to Christmas without being in here," he said sighing to himself. Then he realized he wasn't alone, There was a big black dog lying down on the end of his bed.

"Sirius," Harry whispered. "Are you awake?"

Sirius picked up his head and looked over his shoulder at Harry, then leaped off the bed and ran out of the room. Harry sat staring after him until a few moments later, when he returned with Dumbledore.

"You gave Professor McGonagall quite a scare," he said sitting down next to Harry. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Harry shivered involuntarily, and began recounting the events that took place after the quidditch match. He almost felt like he was trapped inside the black thing again and was taking very deep breaths as he spoke. When he finished Dumbledore was looking very grave, and a bit surprised as well.

"Do you know what that thing was?" Harry asked him.

"It's called a Lethifold or the Living Shroud." They are very rare and usually only found in tropical climates, which is why I'm so surprised there was one here. They don't live very long unless they are in their natural habitat. Something else I find strange is that Lethifolds will never attack someone who appears to be able to defend themselves. Usually they'll go after victims who are sleeping, they digest the victim whole, leaving no trace of them. Someone must have been controlling it."

"Voldemort?"

"I don't think so. You see, the creature would have killed you, and we know that at this time, he needs you alive." Dumbledore seemed to consider this for a minute, then continued. "You said you used the Patronus to defeat it?"

"Yes, it just came to me. Like the way the answers in class are coming to me."

"Interesting. The last time someone was able to defeat a Lethifold using the Patronus Charm was in 1782. It is the only known spell to repel them."

"Well, I'm glad it was in the Zlam's book of knowledge as well, or I'd be very dead right now. How long have I been here?" he asked realizing he had no idea.

"Just overnight, you can still attend classes tomorrow if you feel well enough."

"I'm sure I'll be fine. Do you know, is it normal for someone to feel so weak after a Lethifold attack?" Harry asked feeling embarrassed. He didn't know why he had passed out.

"I'm sure it was just from the strain of what happened, but I will look into it. In the meantime, I think Madam Pomfrey will let you leave today, so I will go get her for you now. She'll just want to check you over once more."

Harry nodded and sat back on the bed watching Dumbledore walk away. He looked at Sirius and just shook his head. Someone had tried to kill him, and it hadn't been Voldemort. He needed to find out who, in order to defend himself. When Madam Pomfrey came over Harry waited as she looked over him, then headed upstairs to his tower.

"Harry you're okay!" Hermione cried as he stepped through the portrait hole. "We were so worried, what happened?" It was still early Sunday evening so most of the students were still up in the common room. Harry walked over to a corner of the room and Ron and Hermione followed, they all sat down in a circle. He then explained, for the second time that day, what had happened in the locker room the day before. When he finished, he was breathing heavy again, and his friends were looking at him with great concern.

"A Lethifold, here?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yes, Dumbledore thinks someone was controlling it," Harry said, not surprised that Hermione knew what a Lethifold was. "But not Voldemort."

"Then who?" Ron asked.

"Someone who wants me dead. Voldemort needs me alive right now, that's why it couldn't be him. But I honestly have no idea who else it could be," Harry said.

"The Zlam?" Hermione suggested. Harry shook his head.

"I don't know. I can't see why it would be them, if they need their Knowledge back, how does my being dead help?"

Ron and Hermione just looked at him blankly and shook their heads.

The next day classes went on as usual. Many of the Gryffindors were poking fun at Malfoy whenever they saw him for his attempt at tricking Harry.

"You know, even if you had followed him, he probably would've ended up crashing anyway. You're much better at dives than he is," Ron said as they were walking past another group laughing about it.

"Thanks," Harry said. Malfoy walked past them, scowling and Harry just waved at him and grinned.

When they got to the great hall that night, everyone was whispering to each other.

"What's going on?" Harry asked as they sat down.

"Dumbledore's going to make an announcement tonight," Dean answered him.

Just as he finished saying this, Dumbledore stood up.

"There are two things that are going to be changed starting tonight, and I know you will not be happy to hear them," Dumbledore said. "The first is, we are once again setting the rule that no student is allowed outside the school without a teacher after dark. If you are found outside after dark, you will be punished." All the students were now whispering loudly to each other, most of it sounded angry. Harry just kept his head down, feeling this was probably because of him.

"The second," Dumbledore started, not looking like he was happy at all to be saying this, "is there will be no more quidditch matches this year."

Harry's head shot up, the hall erupted in anger. Some people were talking angrily to each other, some were just sitting there glaring at Dumbledore and some were yelling at him for an explanation.

"Please calm down!" Dumbledore called loudly, the room when silent. "There have been a few strange occurrences this year that lead me to believe it may not be safe to continue the tournaments this year. I am very sorry to do this; I enjoy watching the games as much as any of you. It is very unfortunate but these are dangerous times and I feel this is quite necessary."

Harry sat there in shock; he glanced across the table and saw Ron's face mirroring his feelings. It was happening again and it was because of him. Then Dumbledore started to speak again.

"On a happier note, we are still going to allow the Hogsmeade visits to continue, for now. Your next one will be on the day before the winter holidays begin. Now please, enjoy your dinner, and head straight back to your towers when you're finished."

Harry ate but didn't taste any of his food. He couldn't believe the quidditch matches had been cancelled again.

"Harry, don't worry about it, we still have next year," Ron said seeing the look on his face.

"But who's to say something doesn't happen to cancel them then too?" Harry asked glumly. But he knew Ron was right, there was nothing he could do about it, and he was determined not to let this make him miserable. Besides, he had other things to worry about.

As the last day of classes drew closer, Harry was unsure about whether or not he wanted to go to Hogsmeade or not. But when Cho asked him if they were going together, he quickly decided. He realized he had barely spoken to her since last time they went and felt bad about this, so he was going to make it up to her.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade he asked her what she wanted to do first.

"Whatever you want to do is fine," she answered him, smiling.

"No really, pick something, we'll do whatever you want."

"Okay, I want to go look at the shops and see the new racing broom." Harry was actually up for doing that as well, so they both set off. As usual, there was a crowd of people around the window with the newest model broom in it.

"The Fireball," Cho read. "Look at it, wouldn't you just love one of those?" Harry nodded; it was spectacular.

"You always seem to get the newest brooms, maybe you'll have one of those next year, you'll catch the snitch in record time," Cho said. Harry was reminded of the canceling of quidditch and turned his head.

"Maybe we should look somewhere else now," he said.

"Hey, c'mon now," Cho started, "we're here to have fun. I'm not upset about the quidditch matches. You're just lucky you didn't have to play me this year. I would've beaten you for sure," Cho said smiling.

"You wish!" Harry said. He felt sad because he knew he'd never get to play Cho again, not in a school game anyway. But at the same time, relieved. He always felt awkward going up against her.

"At least I beat Malfoy before the games were cancelled this year," he said, grinning.

"That's the spirit!" Cho said. "C'mon, I'm thirsty, let's go get a drink."

She put her hand in his, and they headed off down the street towards the Three Broomsticks.

The day flew by for Harry and it was all too soon that they were back at Hogwart's. Cho was going home for the holidays, but Harry got up early and ate breakfast with her the next morning. He went with her down to the train and right before she left she gave him a soft kiss goodbye. He waved to her until he couldn't see the train anymore, and started back towards the school feeling lighter than air.

"Good Morning!" he said brightly to Ron and Hermione after he stepped through the portrait hole.

"Morning," Ron mumbled. "Why are you up so early?"

"I had to see Cho off this morning, we had breakfast together and I went to the train with her."

"How sweet!" Hermione said smiling, "Is that all?" she prompted. Harry blushed furiously and changed the subject.

"So, what are we doing today?"

"Well, I don't care, as long as it doesn't involve homework or reading," Ron said as he watched Hermione already starting on her Arithmancy paper.

"I don't want to leave it all to the last minute, then the end of my holidays are ruined."

"I would think the end of you holidays would be ruined this way, you'll have none left to do later on!" Ron said, laughing. Hermione gave him an annoyed look but went back to her studies.

"How about a game of chess?" Harry asked Ron.

"You're asking me to play? That's a change…"

"Are you saying no?" Harry asked tauntingly.

"Never!" Ron said. They played four games before Harry finally tired of losing, and then they dragged Hermione away from her books for lunch. They spent the day having fun and playing games, when they finally tired and headed up to bed, they were all pleasantly sleepy, dreaming about what they might get for Christmas, the next day.

Christmas morning came, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny spent the morning exchanging gifts. They were literally the only students left in the Gryffindor common room for the holidays. Most every student decided not to stay due to the new restrictions. They had decided to spend the morning relaxing, going through their new things, but finally when it was almost dinner time, they were all quite hungry and headed down to the great hall.

Almost all of the instructors were already there when they arrived, so they sat at the four empty seats near the end of the table. Dinner was wonderful as always, and Harry was surprised when he felt a tugging on his sleeve, and turned to see Dobby.

"Dobby! How are you? Merry Christmas!" Harry exclaimed.

"Dobby came to see Harry Potter! I have present for you, but not here. Dobby will give it to you later, though!" he said looking a bit concerned.

"It's okay Dobby, you didn't need to get me anything," Harry said knowing he had nothing to give in return. He would have to grab another pair of socks…

"Dobby will go get it and bring it to you!" Dobby said running out of the room.

"Wait!" Harry called, but Dobby was already gone.

"Will you tell him I've gone to your office, to visit the…dog?" he asked Dumbledore. He nodded; smiling, and Harry stood up to go. "Dog?" he heard one of the other teachers ask, but didn't turn around, Dumbledore would tell them something.

He was just about to say the password as he reached the statue, when it swung open. Harry stared in shock as Cornelius Fudge stepped out, he looked at Harry and stepped back, surprised.

"Harry, I was coming here to see you. We need to talk," he said quickly. Harry didn't answer right away, concerned as Sirius was in Dumbledore's office. But Fudge must not have seen him or surely he wouldn't be asking to talk to Harry.

"O-Okay…what about?" Harry stammered. He was afraid Fudge would ask him why he was coming here, when Dumbledore was downstairs.

"It's about the Zlam. They are the ones who tried to kill you a few weeks ago. I really don't feel safe talking about it here, please follow me," Fudge said quickly. Harry followed him eagerly through several hallways. Finally he would get an explanation from someone who knew more about the Zlam. Fudge opened the door to a classroom that was very dusty, and wasn't used much. Harry stepped through the doorway and started to turn around when he heard Fudge yell something.

"Stupefy!"

Harry was out before he hit the floor.

Harry opened his eyes and immediately felt the pain in his head. He tried to raise his hand to it and realized he couldn't, his wrists were tied behind him around the back of the chair he was sitting on. He tried to move his legs and realized his ankles were tied as well. He looked around and saw he was sitting at one of the desks in the room and Fudge was sitting across from him, with an empty bottle in front of him. The cork was pulled out of the bottle and he had his wand out, and was mumbling something very quietly. Harry saw his own wand on a desk near the front of the room.

"What's going on?" he asked looking at Fudge. He ignored Harry and kept speaking quietly, Harry tried to get his hands free, but it only hurt as the ropes cut into his skin. He looked again, and noticed that the cork suddenly lit up from within, then went dim. A few seconds later, the bottle did the same thing. Fudge at last looked up at Harry.

"Just a little longer…" he said, sounding more frightened than anything.

"What do you mean? What's going to happen?" Harry asked.

"This would have been a lot easier if you just let the Lethifold take you," Fudge said sounding angry all of a sudden. "None of this would be necessary."

"Oh, so sorry to disrupt you plans!" Harry said glaring at him. "I'll be sure and let myself get eaten next time I see one!" Then he remembered something Fudge had said earlier.

"You said the Zlam tried to kill me, but why? How would that help them?"

"They sent the Lethifold after you because if you died your knowledge would be passed on to the creature. As Lethifolds are not terribly bright, the overload on its brain would kill it and the Zlam would be able to extract the knowledge when the time was right for them. Waiting for you is not something they care for, obviously."

"When the time is right? And what do you mean waiting for me?"

"They have to elect a new Librarian, a process that we don't know all the specifics of, but let's just say they don't just choose someone and that's it. It is very hard to obtain that position. So when one is finally chosen they could take the knowledge out of the Lethifold, which they would keep preserved until that time, and have their knowledge back. The same thing will eventually happen to you, you will die from the knowledge if someone doesn't kill you first. The fact that you are human and a wizard makes the process much slower. But if you die with the knowledge, they can still use your body to get it back."

Harry just stared at him in shock, reeling from the news. The knowledge was killing him? He needed to find a way to get rid of it fast! He looked at Fudge who was visibly sweating now.

"Why did you bring me here?" Harry asked coldly.

"To end all of this nonsense," Fudge said. "If You-Know-Who will let people live just by handing you over, then that's what I intend to do. I feel it is my duty as Minister of Magic to protect the innocent."

"The innocent? And what am I?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I am truly sorry, but if by losing you we can save many, I feel that it's worth it."

"You don't really believe him, do you? Why would he keep his word?" Harry asked trying very hard to control his anger.

"Yes I do," Fudge said, going paler. "He…he came to me. Told me this himself. If I don't do this, then he's going to kill me, I have no other choice…" Fudge trailed off, looking very sick.

"You're the Minister of Magic! Surely there's something you can do! Fight back, get the rest of the ministry to help, I know Professor Dumbledore will!" Harry said.

"It's too late for that now!" Fudge shouted as he stood up. He started pacing, looking at the bottle and the cork. "Why is it taking so long?" he asked himself.

Harry had no idea what he was talking about but didn't really think he wanted to know. He didn't know how long he'd been gone and wondered if anyone was looking for him. Dumbledore must have gone back to his office by now, and Sirius would tell him Harry had never shown um, and they would look for him. He felt stupid now, for following Fudge all the way to some barely used part of the school, but he had no reason to suspect him of anything.

Suddenly, the cork lit up again, followed by the bottle and they both went dim. Fudge hurried over to them immediately, and began saying words again while pointing his wand at them. This time however, Harry understood what was happening, even though he had never seen it done before.

Fudge was turning the items into portkeys.

Harry stared at him in disbelief.

"Minister, please…don't do this," he said pleading. He was struggling desperately now to loosen the ropes, ignoring the pain entirely.

Fudge looked at Harry with some sadness, but his expression hardened quickly. He picked up the cork and walked around the desk to where Harry sat. He kneeled down behind him and Harry craned his neck to see what Fudge was doing. He felt the cork shoved into his hand and then Fudge did something with his wand that forced Harry's fingers to close around it. He couldn't open his hand to drop it.

"You're just gonna give me to Voldemort and expect everything to be okay?" he shouted. "Because that's not what's gonna happen! He'll probably kill you as soon as we arrive, you still have time to stop this!"

"I don't want to stop this," Fudge said evenly. "This is something I've had much time to think about, and this is the decision I've come to. It'll just be a few minutes, so you won't have long to wait," he said pulling a watch out of his pocket and checking it. Harry tried frantically to pry his fingers away from the cork with his other hand, but they were like stone, then he thought he heard movement down the hall.

Fudge went over to the door and peered out quietly, he shut it and glanced at his watch again, seeming to pale even more. He tore a long piece off of his robes and quickly walked over to Harry and gagged him with it, then stood, waiting near the door. His wand outstretched in one hand, the bottle in the other.

After just seconds Harry saw a shadow under the door, he tried to make noise to let whoever it was know he was there, but was unable. His heart sank as he saw the shadow move on, past the door. Fudge lowered his wand and turned back to Harry.

Suddenly, there was a very loud bang, and Sirius burst into the room, his wand was held out in front of him, and the tip of it was glowing blue.

Fudge stared at Sirius in amazement, expecting to see anyone but him.

"Black," he whispered.

Sirius wasted no time at all.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted. Fudge's wand flew out of his hand and over to Sirius, but Fudge took a run at him and knocked him to the floor before Sirius realized what was happening. Harry watched barely breathing as they struggled for a few moments, and Fudge was able to get his wand back, but Sirius shouted something and Fudge was thrown backwards against one of the desks. He wasn't unconscious, just dazed. Sirius rushed to Harry and pulled the gag out of his mouth.

"Sirius!" Harry said immediately, his voice full of panic. "There's a portkey in my hand, he did something and I can't let go of it! It's gonna leave any second!" Sirius' eyes opened wide, he moved quickly around behind Harry and started whispering with his wand held out. Harry kept trying to move his fingers while watching Fudge carefully, who was now starting to get up again. Finally his fingers sprung open and he dropped the cork. Sirius picked it up and tossed it across the room, they both watched as it disappeared in mid-air.

Sirius bent down to untie Harry, not noticing Fudge, who was now furious. He held the bottle in his hand out in front of him, and as a last ditch effort leaped across the desk so it would touch Harry.

"No!" Harry screamed as he tried to move away, but he couldn't go anywhere. He felt the bottle touch his chest as Sirius once again grabbed his wand and stood up.

There was another loud bang and Fudge was thrown across the room, he clutched the bottle to him, for fear it might break. Harry and Sirius looked to the doorway where Dobby was standing.

"You will not hurt Harry Potter!" he shouted angrily at Fudge. Dobby stepped into the room towards Fudge but before another word could be said, he disappeared. Harry let out his breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding as Sirius finally untied him.

"Is Harry Potter okay?" Dobby asked full of concern.

"I am now. How did you both find me?" he asked, rubbing his wrists, which were very scraped and bruised.

"I'll explain on the way; c'mon, Dumbledore's looking for you as well," Sirius said. Harry stood up shakily, and started towards the door with both of them.

"I knew you'd be coming to Dumbledore's office after your dinner so I waited there for you," Sirius began. "Luckily I was in the back when Fudge came through the fireplace, he seemed very nervous and was glancing over his shoulder every other second. Since I couldn't reveal that I was there, I stayed hidden and watched. After a few minutes he headed towards the exit, I heard him start to talk to someone, but I had no idea who. I'm guessing now it was you, right?" Harry nodded.

"So I continued to wait for you and was about to take form as a dog to go looking when I heard the door open. I came around into the office expecting to see you, but it was Dobby."

"I was coming to give Harry Potter his present!" Dobby interrupted. "Headmaster said to go to his office to meet you!" Harry grinned at him, and turned back to Sirius.

"When Dobby told me this, I knew something must have happened, though I still didn't suspect Fudge. I told Dobby to get Dumbledore immediately, as you might be in trouble."

"And I did, I did!" Dobby shouted at Harry in excitement. "I got Headmaster straight away, and told him he had to go to his office because you were in trouble!"

"When Dumbledore arrived," Sirius continued, "He told me it had been quite some time since you left the great hall, and we split up to search for you. I took the hallways that are no longer used much, to avoid being seen by anyone and used the retrieval spell, you have your watch on you I take it?"

"Always," Harry answered.

"Good thing too, otherwise I wouldn't have found you. Dobby came with me, and after many dead ends, we finally found you. Just in time too, I would say."

"So would I," Harry said as they finally came into view of the statue, which led into the office. Dumbledore was just coming up from the other side, a look of relief washing over his face when he saw Harry. He beckoned them inside silently, and they all stepped through into the office.

"Harry," Sirius said as soon as they were inside, "what did Fudge want with you? Where was he taking you?"

"He was going to give me to Voldemort," Harry said feeling anger rising within him again. Sirius and Dumbledore both looked angry as well, infuriated, actually.

"Did he say why?" Dumbledore asked in a very low voice. Harry nodded and explained what Fudge had told him about his decision. And how he had said Voldemort had come to him and threatened him.

"Why didn't he bring the rest of the Ministry in on this?" Sirius asked Dumbledore, seething with anger.

"He told me he felt there was no other choice," Harry said.

"More likely it was his stubborn pride," Dumbledore said. "He didn't want to believe Voldemort had returned, no matter how I tried to convince him. He let himself believe you were not to be trusted after reading that Skeeter woman's article as well. So when he finally was proven wrong by Voldemort himself, I suspect he didn't want to say he was wrong. Too busy thinking about the repercussions on himself to care who else might get hurt. But trying to turn you over to Voldemort to save his own skin was unforgivable, the Ministry will hear of this, I'll see to it."

"Fudge told me something else too. He said the Zlam were the ones that sent the Lethifold after me," Harry said.

"Why would they do that?" Sirius asked.

Harry explained what Fudge had told him about the Zlam wanting to get their knowledge back as soon as possible and how they would be able to extract it from the Lethifold once the knowledge killed it.

"So they can take it even if the person, or creature holding it is dead?" Sirius asked. But before Harry could answer Dumbledore spoke.

"The knowledge would kill the Lethifold?" he asked.

"Yes…and it's killing me too," Harry told them, feeling real fear building inside him. "Just more slowly because I'm human, and a wizard…according to Fudge anyway."

"We have to find a way to get rid of it!" Sirius exclaimed standing up.

"I agree Sirius, please calm down," Dumbledore said. "I am going to contact the Ministry of Magic tonight and insist that they give me any information they have on this. I'm also going to report Cornelius Fudge for what he tried tonight."

"I don't see what good that's going to do. When Fudge was transported to Voldemort without me…" Harry said trailing off.

"He got what he deserved," Sirius said darkly.

"Nevertheless, they need to be told," Dumbledore said. "Harry, you should head back to your tower. I'm sure the ministry will want to speak with you about all of this. I will get you when it is time, try to get some rest for now." Harry agreed as he felt very tired after all that had happened. He said goodnight and left the office.

As he got to the portrait of the fat lady, he realized he hadn't seen Dobby after they went into the office. But as soon as he walked into the common room, he saw him there with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Dobby didn't forget Harry Potter's gift!" he said excitedly.

"Thank you Dobby, you really didn't have to…" Harry started, but Dobby thrust a package into his hands and Harry began to open it.

"What took you so long?" Ron asked. "Dobby told us-"

"I'll tell you later," Harry said, cutting him off. Dobby, meanwhile was hopping back and forth from one foot to the other in excitement. When Harry finally got the package open, he saw a lot of green material. He pulled it fully out and saw it was a rather large, though somewhat lopsided, green sweater.

"Dobby made it himself!" he squealed. "Does Harry Potter like?"

Harry couldn't imagine being seen wearing this thing in front of anyone besides the people in the room, so he smiled and put it on over the shirt he was wearing. One arm hung so far down it was past his knee, while the other was just shy of it, and the sweater itself was down to his thighs. He pulled up the sleeves and looked at Dobby.

"I love it! Thank you Dobby!" Harry exclaimed.

"What happened?" Hermione said sounding rather alarmed. She was looking at Harry's wrists. Harry pulled the sleeves down quickly and covered them.

"I'll tell you later," he said quietly. Then he looked at Dobby again.

"I'll go get your gift, wait right here!" He stood up and headed for the stairs, scooping up the sleeves in his arms. He ran to his trunk and grabbed two pairs of socks, took one of each, and a sweater that was a bit too small for him, and went back downstairs.

"Me didn't tell them anything!" Dobby said proudly as Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked at him guiltily. He gave them an annoyed look and went over to Dobby.

"Here you go Dobby, I didn't have time to wrap it, I'm sorry."

"Harry Potter, sir! Two presents! Thank you!" Dobby said as he pulled on the socks and sweater. He lunged forward and hugged Harry fiercely around the middle.

"Your welcome Dobby!" Harry said laughing. Dobby looked as if he were going to cry, but kept on smiling.

"Dobby has to go now! He hopes to see Harry Potter again soon!" he said suddenly. Then he ran across to the portrait hole almost tripping on the sweater, and left.

Harry turned around and looked at his friends.

"Will you tell us now?" Ron asked anxiously.

"You know, I told you I'd tell you and I will. I just wanted to wait until Dobby was gone before I went through this all again."

"Harry, we were just worried. Dobby said something happened and he helped save you, why would he need to save you?" Hermione asked.

Harry sat down with a plop and pushed his sleeves back again. For the second time that night he told what had happened from the time he left the table in the great hall, until arriving at Dumbledore's office, leaving out the knowledge's effect on him, for the moment. His voice was very hoarse by the time he finished and his friends were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"I can't believe Fudge did that!" Hermione cried.

"Well, he did," Harry said. "And now who knows where he is, I can't imagine Voldemort was too happy to see him, alone."

"Well if he doesn't kill Fudge, the Ministry of Magic will take care of him." Ron said, looking very angry.

"I don't understand," Ginny said, looking very confused. "Not about Fudge, but about the Zlam. Who are they?" Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at each other realizing Ginny hadn't been around for any of the other things that had happened.

"I'll tell her," Hermione said. "You better get those looked at," she said pointing at Harry's wrists which were now visibly swelling.

"I think you're right, Ron, come with me to get some ice?"

Ron nodded and they stood up and headed for the door. Hermione ran over to them before they stepped all the way through.

"Harry, I just have one thing I'm still unclear on. Fudge told you the Lethifold would die from the knowledge, in just hours after receiving it, but you…" she trailed off after looking at the expression on his face.

"Oh no…"

"It's slower with me, because I'm human…and a wizard, but I don't know how much slower."

Ron looked back and forth between them, until finally realizing what was being said. He looked at Harry in horror.

"Dumbledore and Sirius know and they're working on it. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to worry. I knew you'd figure it out, just didn't realize it would be so soon."

"But, I could help!" Hermione exclaimed. "I could…"

"I'm sure they'll be glad to have your help, but at this moment there's nothing we can do."

Hermione just looked at him for a moment and turned back to Ginny, who still looked completely confused. Harry and Ron stepped into the hallway.

The next morning Harry was being shaken awake, and he heard someone saying his name. He turned over and grabbed his glasses to see who it was.

"Professor Lupin? What is it?"

"Harry, we need you to come to Professor Dumbledore's office. Some of the ministers are there waiting for you. They want to ask you a few questions."

Harry groaned inwardly. He did not want to rehash all of the events of the previous night yet again. But he just nodded and got out of bed. Once he was dressed, he and Lupin headed straight for Dumbledore's office.

Harry was a bit surprised to see Percy was there, along with Mr. Weasley and a few other men he didn't recognize.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said kindly. "I know this is sooner than you expected to have to do this, but these men have some questions for you." One of the men stepped forward then. He was very tall and thin, with light brown hair and very dark brown eyes.

"Hello Mr. Potter. I am Marshall Thurston," he said in a condescending tone, "second in the ministry only to Cornelius Fudge. Professor Dumbledore here has told us your story of what happened here last night, and we just need to go over a few things."

Harry nodded, taking an immediate disliking to Thurston.

"Now, you say that Fudge had spoken with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, yes? And that he was making some sort of deal with him?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"What deal, exactly?"

"Didn't Professor Dumbledore…?"

"I want to hear what you have to say now. Never mind what he told us."

"He said that Voldemort told him he would not kill as many people, Fudge included, if he gave me to him." All of the ministers flinched at the mention of the name, and Harry averted his eyes. He would have to remember not to say it again.

"So," Thurston continued, smiling, "Cornelius Fudge was going to give you to You-Know-Who, to save lives. Is that what you're saying?"

"That's what he was saying," Harry answered through clenched teeth.

"Well, it sounds like he was acting in the best interests…" Thurston began.

"What are you saying?" Mr. Weasley spoke up then. "Fudge was only acting in his own best interests. You and I both know that Marshall. He wouldn't have done a thing if his own life hadn't been threatened." The two men glared at each other for a few moments.

"I know of no such thing, Arthur. And we even heard it from him," he said nodding towards Harry, "that Cornelius was doing this to save lives."

"Whether that was the case or not," Dumbledore interrupted. "Did that give him the right to decide that Mr. Potter should die?"

"I have to agree with Mr. Thurston," Percy spoke up suddenly. Harry looked at him in disbelief and noticed for the first time Percy was glaring at him. Mr. Weasley appeared shocked as well. "If Mr. Fudge was only doing what he thought would save lives, no charges should be brought against him." Harry felt utterly betrayed, he knew Percy cared a great deal for his job, but he thought they had been friends. Wasn't that more important?

The ministers were divided against each other, some agreed with Mr. Weasley, but more than half were behind Mr. Thurston.

"Are you listening to yourselves?" Lupin spoke up suddenly. He was addressing Thurston's group. "The Minister of Magic tried to give You-Know- Who the one thing he needs to regain his full strength. Harry would have been killed most certainly, and then he would still come for all of you. You're treating this like You-Know-Who would've kept his word, but what I can't understand is why?"

Thurston glared at Lupin intently for a moment.

"Well whatever actually happened," Thurston said, "we won't be bringing any charges against Cornelius Fudge until he's given the chance to tell his side. I won't do anything to damage his reputation based on the accusations of a traumatized boy."

Harry glared at him in indignation, and was about to open his mouth to say something, but a glance at Dumbledore told him to stay quiet.

"You handle the situation however you see fit, minister," Dumbledore said. "I was simply reporting this as I felt it was necessary. Now, about the other matter, we still need more information on the Zlam."

"We've given you everything we have," Thurston said quickly.

"That isn't what Mr. Fudge told me last time we spoke," Dumbledore said in a very low voice. He was quickly growing tired of this man.

"I'm sure you must've misunderstood…"

"I didn't misunderstand anything," Dumbledore said in a very loud voice. "He refused to give the information because he said it wasn't necessary. Now we know it is necessary, Harry is dying and you are going to give us anything you have that can help us figure out how to stop that from happening."

Thurston looked at Dumbledore trying to show strength, but he was obviously a bit frightened by him.

"If Mr. Fudge refused to give it to you, then why should we?" Percy spoke up. Mr. Weasley glared at his son, but remained quiet.

"Someone's life is in danger. Don't you think that's reason enough?" Dumbledore asked, looking sadly at Percy. It was obvious he was very disappointed with him. Percy lowered his gaze, but didn't answer the question. Then Mr. Weasley spoke up.

"I will see to it that you are given whatever you need, professor."

"Weasley! What are you…?" Thurston began.

"I'm doing what you should be. I have enough authority that I can get to the information and use it as I see necessary. I certainly see this as necessary. And there's nothing you can do to override it, not while Fudge is gone." He glared at Thurston, but refused to look at Percy.

"We are leaving now," Thurston said suddenly. "If you do see Mr. Fudge please try and let him explain his side before you do anything you might regret." He looked at Harry with hatred at saying this.

"What would we do to him? I wouldn't let him wander around the school, but we certainly wouldn't decide his fate for him by ourselves," Dumbledore said pointedly. "We will contact you immediately if we hear from him."

Thurston nodded and beckoned the rest of the men to follow him, as they used floo powder to leave. Percy looked as if he wanted to say something to Harry, and opened his mouth to do so. But he quickly closed it and turned to the fire. Soon, all of them were gone except Mr. Weasley.

"I'm very sorry Albus, I don't know why he was acting like that." Mr. Weasley began.

"Arthur, I have grown quite accustomed to the ministry being more concerned about their public image over what is right. But they are sorely mistaken if they think we will let this go, when Fudge does return."

"But I meant Percy, more than Thurston. I know he wants very badly to be accepted by all of the ministers who are higher up, shall we say, on the ministry. He hopes to obtain that level himself, but I know I brought him up better than that. I apologize to you too, Harry. I never thought he would treat you like that."

"Don't worry about it Mr. Weasley. I'm sure Percy only did it to impress Mr. Thurston," Harry said, not really believing that at all. Percy had been looking at him in such a way it could only be described as hatred. He stood up then. "Do you need me anymore right now?"

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head and Harry left the office, heading for the Gryffindor tower.

"So, is anything going to happen to Fudge?" Ron asked as Harry stepped through the portrait hole.

"Not now. They said nothing will be done until he's allowed to tell his side of the story," Harry told him.

"What? His side of the story? Are they mad?" Hermione spoke up, slamming the book she had been reading down.

"Yes, I think so," Harry said smiling. "But there's nothing we can do about that. Dumbledore told them he would contact them if Fudge shows up again. He also said he wasn't going to stop fighting this when that happens…if it happens. What I care about is that we're getting the information on the Zlam, all of it."

"That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed. "When?"

"As soon as Mr. Weasley gives it to us. You should've seen him Ron, he stood up to Mr. Thurston about it. Told him he couldn't override it!"

"Thurston? That's the guy Percy works for…ever since that whole incident with Barty Crouch…" Ron trailed off, not wanting to bring that up. "Was Percy there?"

"Yes. But he didn't say anything," Harry lied. He didn't think Ron needed to know about Percy's behavior. Mr. Weasley knew, and that was enough.

"Didn't try to impress Mr. Thurston, huh? Well, he talks about him enough to the rest of us. All about how much better this position is. Much more in the thick of things, and all that," Ron said, shaking his head. Harry just nodded at him, still feeling uneasy about the whole situation, but not wanting to talk about it. Ginny came downstairs then, and the four of them set off to the great hall for lunch.

The winter holidays ended soon enough, and all the students returned to school. Harry was excited to see Cho again, remembering the last time he saw her. Finally at breakfast the day classes began again, he got a chance to talk to her.

"How was your holiday?" he asked walking up to her.

"Harry! It was great; I had so much fun. But I'm glad to be back now. How was yours?"

"Great, we had fun here too…" Harry said, not saying anything about Fudge or the Ministry of Magic. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, sometime…on the weekend maybe? He looked away quickly, not sure what she would say, but when he looked back she was smiling at him.

"I'd like that."

Harry almost laughed out loud with relief.

"Great, um…I guess I'll just…meet you here on Saturday morning, then?"

"Okay. See ya then!" she turned and walked away towards her friends, and Harry stared after her happily. Then he went to where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him at his table.

They smiled at him as he sat down, but didn't say anything. When breakfast was almost over, Professor Dumbledore asked for everyone's attention.

"I know that many of you were not too happy with my last announcement, so I hope to make it up to you with this one. We will be having another ball this year, at the end of February. This is open to all students, though if you are third year or younger, there will be an earlier curfew for you. I know it isn't quidditch, but I hope you will all have fun." He sat down, as all the students began talking excitedly to one another.

"Are you going to ask Cho again, Harry?" Hermione asked smiling at him.

"Yes…who are you going with?" Harry asked.

"Oh…I dunno…so many choices…" Hermione said looking up.

"What do you me

an?" Ron asked looking hurt.

"I'm only kidding, silly."

Harry looked back and forth between his friends and realized for the first time, they were looking at each other the same way he felt he must look when he was with Cho.

"Are you two…not telling me something?" he asked.

"Now Harry, when do we ever keep things from you?" Hermione asked smiling.

Harry just looked back at them feeling nothing but happiness. They didn't need to say anything; he could see how they felt.

"We better get going," Ron said suddenly. "Snape will be more than happy to see us walk in late." They all agreed and hurried out of the great hall, towards the dungeons.

The weekend couldn't come fast enough for Harry and he woke up very early Saturday morning. He sat in the great hall and waited for over half an hour before Cho finally walked in. They ate breakfast together, and then got up to walk.

"So, I'd like to ask you…will you go to the ball with me?" Harry managed to say much calmer than the last time he's asked her this.

"I would be honored," Cho said, smiling brilliantly. "I'm glad they're having one, my last year here and all."

"I know, I wish I were a year older," Harry said, really meaning it.

"Don't say that. If you were, than everything we know might be very different. Things happen for a reason," she said. Harry wasn't sure how to answer this so he just nodded and continued walking. They spent the day together, doing whatever they felt like; they even spent some time in the library working on homework. Cho, who had been taking divination since her third year, just like Harry, was actually pretty good at interpreting the way the book showed you.

"It's a joke really," she said to him. "You can follow what the book says down to the last letter, but the predictions always contradict each other. I don't think Madame Trelawny has any idea what she's talking about, either."

"I know what you mean. Did you know she's told me I'm going to die every year? Several times a year at that."

"Poor you. Yes, she picks one student from every class. She needs to do everything being overly dramatic. But it's amusing, and I'm passing, so I stick with it."

At the end of the day, he walked her to the entrance to her common room.

"I had a wonderful time today Harry," she said.

"So did I, do you think…you'd like to do this again? Next weekend?" he asked.

"Yes I would, very much so." She smiled at him. This time he leaned towards her, and they kissed briefly. When they separated, Cho gave a small wave, and turned around to enter her common room. Harry, feeling just as happy as the day with her near the train, turned and headed back to his common room.

It was very late now though, and he was out in the hallways past curfew, so he was trying to hurry as fast as possible. He was doing great until he got halfway down one hallway and spotted Mrs. Norris. Having no other choice, he flew past her and got to the end of the hall. He turned the corner, almost at a run and crashed right into Malfoy, whose arms' were full. They both fell to the floor, the bottles he had been holding crashing everywhere, and smoke coming up from the mixing of the liquids that were in them. Before either of them could say anything, Argus Filch stepped into the hallway, sneering at both of them.

"Looks like two students will be receiving detention," Filch said with a wicked grin. "And what's all this?" he said pointing at the broken bottles.

"Mr. Filch," Malfoy began quickly. "Potter here was stealing these, from Professor Snape's office. I saw him and was trying to stop him. I was only doing what I thought was best. I didn't want to lose sight of him and…"

"You liar!" Harry shouted at him. Then he turned to Filch. "He was the one with the bottles. I never went near…"

"Enough! Both of you!" Filch yelled. "I don't care who stole them. I'm reporting both of you, and you're both getting detention. And when I tell them not only were you out past curfew but there was stealing involved, you may be in for some…extra punishment." He grinned to himself, looking much too happy about all of this. "Both of you get back to your common rooms now, I will inform the headmaster."

Harry and Malfoy glared at each other but didn't say anything. They passed each other quickly and started off down opposite halls. When Harry finally got to the portrait, he was back to thinking about the rest of the day, rather than its awful ending.

"What have you been doing all day?" Hermione asked him, smiling when he came over to them.

Harry told them everything about his day, and all the things he and Cho had done. Ron was ecstatic to hear Cho was good at divination, so Harry could give him the answers now. This earned him a disapproving glare from Hermione, but she didn't say anything. Then he told them about what happened with Malfoy and Filch.

"I wonder what he was carrying. Do you think he was stealing from Snape? They certainly don't get along as well as they used to," Hermione said.

"I don't know what he was doing, but he tried to accuse me of stealing them. I want to know what he was planning on using them for…" Harry trailed off.

"Nothing good, you can be sure of that," Ron said. "If anything good came out of it, at least he doesn't have them now, for whatever he was going to do."

Harry nodded, though he still wasn't happy about detention. He hoped it wouldn't be with Malfoy, because that would only make it last longer. He pushed these thoughts from his mind and tried to enjoy the rest of the evening.

At the end of the next week, Harry found out he'd be having detention that Saturday night. He groaned inwardly as he saw that he had to report to Filch's office at 8pm.

"Just hope he doesn't make you polish everything in the trophy case. I swear he sees invisible fingerprints," Ron said looking disgusted.

"I don't care about cleaning. I just know whatever it is I'm doing, it's gonna be with Malfoy. Spending an evening with the two of them is not something I ever intended on doing."

"Well try to find out what he wanted all those potion ingredients for," Hermione said.

"Oh and I'm sure he'll be anxious to tell me too. I can't understand why he wouldn't entirely forthcoming with that information," Harry said looking at her.

"Well I'm sure if you asked him just to tell you he wouldn't, but if you tricked him into telling you…" she trailed off.

"He is dumb enough, it might work," Ron said smiling. The others just laughed at him.

When Saturday night came, after another wonderful day with Cho, Harry set off for Filch's office. He arrived at the same time as Malfoy, who glared at him in hatred, but didn't say anything. Filch stood up and beckoned both of them to follow him. They walked down several hallways until they came to the bathrooms.

"You are both going to clean the bathrooms, using no magic. Hand over your wands, now." Filch held out his hand expectantly and Harry and Malfoy handed over their wands grudgingly.

"Just these bathrooms?" Harry asked.

"All of the bathrooms…on this level," Filch said showing some disappointment. He obviously would've liked to make them do the entire school, but that was ridiculous.

"The girls bathrooms too?" Malfoy asked, looking like he was going to throw a fit. Filch just nodded at him.

"But that's six bathrooms! We'll be here until the sun rises!" Malfoy screamed.

"You'll be here as long as it takes. Now let me show you were the cleaning closet is." They followed him to the cleaning closet and took out buckets, mops, sponges, and cleanser and headed back to the bathrooms.

When they stepped inside, Harry immediately went over to the sink and started filling his bucket with water. Malfoy just looked around, disgusted, then he turned and smiled at Harry.

"I think I'll watch, while you clean. If you decide to get Filch, it'll definitely look like I've been cleaning by the time you get back."

Harry stared at him for a minute, glaring.

"Fine. But you still have to stay here for as long as it takes me to clean everything. Do you want to be here that long? And if you're not doing anything, I bet you fall asleep, then when I get Filch it won't look quite like you've been working, will it?" He turned back around and began pouring soap into the bucket, a few seconds later, Malfoy was at one of the sinks filling his own bucket, but looking utterly annoyed. Harry started in the first stall, while Malfoy was looking around in horror.

"I'm not touching the toilets," he said finally. "I just won't."

"I don't care Malfoy, I'll do the toilets, you do the floors, the sinks, the mirrors and the windows, and I'll do the toilets and urinals. Okay?" Malfoy looked at him skeptically for a minute, but nodded and got to work. After almost two hours of cleaning in silence, they moved on to the girls' room next door. While they were filling up their buckets again, Harry decided to try and find out what Malfoy had been up to the other night.

"So you were planning on making a potion on your own the other night?" he asked.

"That's none of your business." Malfoy spat.

"Well if you weren't doing something you weren't supposed to, then why would you try to blame it on me? I know you stole those ingredients."

"You don't know anything."

"And Snape will know what's missing from his closet," Harry said remembering when Snape had accused Harry of stealing from him.

Malfoy remained silent after this last comment, and Harry decided to let it go. There was nothing that could be done anyway, since all of the ingredients were now destroyed and Snape would definitely be on the lookout for anyone who tried to steal from him again.

After another hour had gone by, Harry was just halfway through the stalls, when he heard Malfoy's voice, sounding frightened.

"Who are you? What do you…" and then nothing. He heard something hit the floor. When he opened the door to the stall he was in, he saw Malfoy unconscious on the floor, with one of the Zlam standing over him. Before Harry could think to do anything the Zlam was in front of him, holding his arms down. Harry felt immense pain in his head out of nowhere, and he clenched his teeth. He was about to cry out, when suddenly it vanished. The Zlam looked at him angrily and Harry just stared back, not knowing what had just happened. He felt his eyelids drooping, and was suddenly overcome with a desire to sleep, which he couldn't understand, but didn't have time to think about it as he was passed out within seconds.


	3. Chapter 3

When Harry woke up, he saw red. He blinked his eyes a few times and rubbed them before he realized it wasn't his eyes, he was inside something red. There was a dome all around him, and he could see through it, but when he put his hand out to touch it, he pulled it back quickly as it was very hot. He knew he wouldn't be able to pass through, so he had no choice but to wait. From what he could see they were deep in a forest, though it wasn't the forbidden forest. Everything here was lush and green.

After just a few minutes, he saw the dome start to flicker, and disappear. He felt himself being grabbed from behind and he was dragged to his feet. There was one Zlam on each side of him, holding his arms and they were forcing him forward. Harry was once again amazed at the strength of these thin creatures. He went with them and they stopped in a clearing, where there were many more Zlam waiting for them.

Harry could see they were all wearing long dark robes, except for one in front of the rest who had gold robes. He stepped forward then, towards Harry.

"Harry Potter, we meet at last. I am Forden, the leader of the Zlamfimians. You have something of ours, and we want it back."

"I've been trying to figure out how to give it back," Harry said quickly. "But no matter what information we have on you, we can never seem to find anything on how your knowledge is transferred."

"You're kind would have no information. We have never allowed you to know of it," Forden said, sounding angry. "There are many things, that we don't let humans see."

"Well if you could just tell me…" Harry began.

"I can't," Forden interrupted. "No one here can. Only a keeper knows how to transfer the knowledge, and there is only one keeper a generation."

"Keeper?" Harry asked.

"What your kind calls, a librarian. The keeper of our knowledge is the one who holds it for us, until it is time to pass to a new keeper. They spend their lives preparing the new keeper, and then pass the knowledge on right before they die. Our keeper is dead, thanks to Corfay. It is also because of him that you must die." Another of the Zlam stepped forward then, holding a long, curved knife.

Harry tensed and instinctively tried to pull away from the Zlam that were holding him. He looked into Forden's eyes.

"Why? Why do you have to kill me? I mean, I already know the knowledge is killing me, is there really a reason you need it done sooner?" Harry asked, trying not to sound as scared as he felt.

"We require the knowledge you were given to survive. You have within you more secrets about us then we have ever shown to any human. We cannot take the chance that you discover them."

"But I have no idea how to control this, I don't see the chance of me discovering anything," Harry said quickly. "I've been able to do basic spells in class, but nothing that any other wizard didn't already know how to do."

"That doesn't matter. As time goes on, it will come to you no matter what. It moves faster as you know more."

"Meaning?"

Forden just looked at him, considering whether or not to continue.

"If you tell me a bit more, maybe I can understand it better, figure out how to do this transfer. Please?" Harry said carefully. Forden sighed.

"I doubt that, but I will answer your questions. I feel you are owed an explanation. If you were a more experienced wizard, this knowledge would have been under your control from the first day. It would still be killing you, but you could use it as you saw fit. Because you do not know many things about your own powers, you could not possibly grasp ours yet."

"If I were somehow able to grasp them, and use your powers, and I transferred the knowledge to someone else, would I remember anything about it?"

"Yes you would still be able to do anything you learned about your magic, but also no. As a human, you would not be able to retain anything about our magic, it would be gone almost as soon as you let go of the knowledge."

"What's the difference between your magic and wizard magic? How is it you know so much about ours and we know barely anything about yours?"

"I've already told you," Forden began, "we keep ours very secret from all of your kind. Humans feel they are more powerful then us, so we let them believe that, but the truth is you could not hope to defeat us if you wanted to. All of us are able to use common spells and charms just as you are, but we know a great deal more than you do and we don't need wands."

"What do you use then?" Harry asked, very intrigued.

"Our minds. We can do anything we want by thinking it, and we can make 'suggestions' to you as well."

"Suggestions? Is that why Malfoy and I both fell asleep in the school before? And why my head hurt?"

"Malfoy, I'm assuming was the other student that Tytros told me about," Forden said nodding towards another Zlam. Harry recognized him as the one from earlier. "What happened was he made your friend think he wanted to sleep. Before he did the same to you, he tried to suggest you transfer the knowledge to him, but it didn't work, and that's why your head hurt. So he brought you here."

"Is Tytros your new keeper?" Harry asked.

"No. Our keeper is dead, because of that imbecile, Corfay."

"I thought Corfay was your keeper."

"Corfay could never have hoped to become keeper. He was stupid and foolhardy and if he had not died, we would have executed him for his actions."

"What did he do?"

"Corfay stole the knowledge from Banwor, our previous keeper, when he heard that Voldemort was after it. He gave it to you, very cowardly of him, because he knew Voldemort was already after you, he thought it would keep him away from us."

"I'm confused, Corfay stole the knowledge? How? And why is your keeper dead?"

"Corfay was able to force Banwor to give him the knowledge the same way he forced you to take it. He stole it from Banwor in his sleep, and in doing so killed him. If the keeper is not willing to let go of the knowledge, then the strain destroys their mind. Because Banwor was asleep, Corfay had the advantage, and was successful in taking it."

"So then, why can't you do that to me?" Harry said looking again at the Zlam holding the knife. "I would be very willing…" he trailed off.

"That is what Tytros tried earlier, and it failed, so we have one choice left. Because you don't fully understand the knowledge it can't be done, and we cannot wait any longer."

"But you said you don't have a new keeper, he's too young, right? So why do you need to do this now? If you wait until I understand then I can give it back to you!" Harry exclaimed.

"It's true that our new keeper is not ready, and we cannot chance giving him the knowledge until then, or it will kill him, like it is doing to you. If Tytros had succeeded we would have had to kill him as well. If you die with the knowledge, it remains within you, keeping your body preserved, until a keeper can take it from you."

"You'd kill one of your own people? Just because they weren't a keeper?"

"The knowledge was never meant to be given to anyone but a keeper. That has always been our way. Tytros was willing to sacrifice himself for you tonight." He stopped then and looked at Harry. "Understand this, we have no desire to kill you, this was all very unfortunate and should have been avoided, but it wasn't. I am sorry." He turned and looked at the Zlam holding the knife and nodded.

"Wait, please!" Harry pleaded. "At least until your keeper is ready…"

"I've already told you, we can't let you gain control of the knowledge. If you had already, we were willing to accept that and just take it from you, because you would forget. But since you are being hunted by someone who wants you dead, we can't chance that they are able to learn any of our secrets from you."

"I would never tell him anything! Please!" Harry said struggling against the Zlam holding him. The one with the knife was standing right next to him now, waiting. Forden looked at him with great sadness.

"I know of many things that can be done to make one wizard tell another everything he knows. You could not stop him if he wanted it, but if you are dead, you will tell nothing." Forden looked at the Zlam with the knife and nodded again.

Harry had no options left, he couldn't get away from the Zlam holding him, and he didn't have his wand even if he did manage to get free of them. The one with the knife stepped directly in front of him now, and put the knife out in front of him, pointing at Harry's torso. He wondered, briefly, why they would use a knife to kill him, as they knew far more magic then he did. He looked into the eyes of the Zlam in front of him.

"Please…don't do this," he said to him, his head was now starting to hurt very badly, and his eyes started to water from it. The Zlam didn't even acknowledge that he heard Harry, and pulled his arm back, ready to strike.

Suddenly, he shoved his arm forward. Harry lunged to the right, barely moving as the ones holding him were far stronger than him, and he felt the knife penetrate, just above his left hip. The pain was so great, Harry thought he would pass out from it, but he didn't dare let this happen, he used all his strength to stay conscious.

"Don't fight this!" Forden said. "If you hadn't moved you never would have felt the pain, it would all be over now! The blade is designed specifically for that!"

Harry looked down and saw a large gash in his sweater, and blood flowing freely down his side. He tried not to think about what the knife had torn inside of him, as his head was starting to throb even harder.

The Zlam set the knife up again and started to pull his arm back, while the two holding Harry tightened their grip.

All of a sudden, the pain in his head stopped, and just like all of the times he came up with the answers in class, Harry knew what he had to do. He didn't waste any time. He steeled himself, for he didn't know what this was going to feel like, took a deep breath, and dissaparated.

Harry's first thought was to go to Hogwart's then he remembered, you couldn't apparate there. The next thing that came to his mind was Hogsmeade. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Shrieking Shack, in Hogsmeade, in the middle of the night. Immediately the pain in his side increased, and he headed inside the shack quickly. This was his only way back to Hogwart's for the moment. He headed for the secret passage and started through.

The walk back was the longest ever, Harry fought the entire time to stay conscious. If he fell asleep here, he would surely bleed to death. His sweater was entirely soaked with blood in the area of the wound, as were his pants below it. Several times he had to lean against the wall to catch his breath, and then continue on slowly.

When at last he reached the end of the passage and hit the knot in the Whomping Willow, he stepped out onto the Hogwart's grounds. In the chilly morning air, he could see the sun just beginning to rise, and realized just how long he'd been gone. He got to the stairway and pulled himself up to the top, opened the door, and stepped inside.

He looked around for a minute, torn on where to go. He knew he needed to tell Dumbledore immediately all that had happened, but he had to see Madam Pomfrey. As his vision blurred and he put his hand to the wall to steady himself, he decided on the hospital wing first. Harry set off in that direction, but as soon as he turned the first corner, he saw Snape coming towards him from the opposite end of the hall.

"Mr. Potter!" he said sounding very angry and quickening his pace. "Where have you been, and what did you do to Mr. Malfoy? Thought you could get out of detention, did you? I am taking you to…" he stopped suddenly as he got closer to Harry. He stared in horror at all the blood on Harry's clothes. Harry just stood looking at him, clutching his hand to his wound.

"Prof-Professor...Snape…" he started, but didn't have the strength to continue. Without another word, he fell to his knees and blacked out.

When Harry woke up he shot straight up in the bed he was in. He had been having a nightmare about the Zlam, and was completely disoriented. He felt around for his glasses and found them on a table next to him, when he put them on, he saw he was in the hospital wing. He filled with relief and calmed down, as Madam Pomfrey rushed over to him.

"Lay back down, please. You need to stay still. Your wound is closed but there was much damage done internally, I don't want you reopening any of it. Now I'm going to get the headmaster, as he wanted to know as soon as you woke up." She turned and walked quickly out of the room. Harry just sat back and waited, he looked at his side and saw that the wound was completely healed, but he did still feel pain if he moved too much, so he sat still. Finally a short while later, he heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Dumbledore walked in, followed by Lupin and a black dog. Lupin shut the door and locked it and Sirius changed back into human form, they went over to Harry's bed.

"Harry," Sirius started coming right over to him and hugging him. "Are you okay? What happened?" Harry grimaced from the pain he felt but didn't say anything about that.

"I've been better, but I'm alive," he said as Sirius let go of him. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost two weeks," Dumbledore said quietly. "You lost a lot of blood, I'm amazed you were still alive when Professor Snape found you." Harry barely remembered seeing Snape that night. He just remembered being yelled at for detention.

"Two weeks?" Harry said, not wanting to believe it. "Is Draco okay?" he asked, feeling that it would be wrong not to.

"Mr. Malfoy is fine. He had a bump on the head, but other than that he will be alright," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Filch found him and saw that you were missing. He sent for me immediately and we searched the school for you, but could find nothing. Sirius was getting ready to use the retrieval spell again, when Professor Snape told us he had found you, and that you were not in good shape. If you feel up to it, can you tell us what happened?"

"Yes," Harry said with a sigh, "I can tell you everything."

When Harry had finished explaining everything that had happened from the moment he saw the Zlam in the bathroom, to running into Snape, he sat back and closed his eyes. He never enjoyed these times, having to tell the most horrible experiences of his life over. He knew Ron and Hermione would want to hear it as well, but he didn't think about it right now.

Sirius and Lupin just stared at him in horror, while Dumbledore was stroking his beard in thought.

"We need to stop them! The ministry must be notified and something has to be done about the Zlam," Sirius said looking furious.

"The ministry won't be too anxious to help us, Sirius. I believe they are afraid of the Zlam. They have been aware for a very long time that we cannot overpower them. We are very lucky that the Zlam are peaceful, and bear no ill will against us."

"Peaceful! How can you say they're peaceful?" Sirius exclaimed, standing now.

"Until this incident they have never tried to hurt us. From the way Harry has explained it, they didn't want to hurt him either. What he has belongs to them, and we must find a way to return it. Otherwise, we may find that we have another powerful enemy."

"The ministry wouldn't do anything, I'm sure," Harry spoke up, sounding hoarse. "They didn't want to give us any information on the Zlam, so I'm sure they won't help us fight them. Thurston would probably just put me in jail for apparating without a license anyway…" he trailed off.

"Surely he would see the reason for it," Sirius said. Harry just looked at him skeptically, but didn't say anything.

"I think Harry's got a point," Lupin said. "You didn't see the way Thurston acted. It was like he wanted Harry to give him a reason to…I don't know. But he certainly didn't seem like he believed Harry at all."

"We are on our own this time," Dumbledore said. "The ministry wouldn't help us even if they did have the information we need. But they don't. I will look again at what Arthur has given me, but I have very little hope of finding our answers in there. I believe in the end what it will come down to, is if Harry can figure out how to transfer the knowledge."

Harry just stared at him, showing no emotion. He felt completely empty and alone and the stress of everything was starting to get to him. But he held it in, and didn't say anything.

"We will leave you to rest now," Dumbledore said suddenly, "and discuss this further tomorrow." He stood up and beckoned to the others. Sirius looked as though he weren't going to go for a moment, but stood up anyway. They said goodnight to Harry, and Sirius changed into a dog again. As they left, Madam Pomfrey rushed in again, looking a bit peeved that she had been left out of the hospital for so long. She gave Harry a potion to sleep, though he didn't feel he needed one. He was asleep before he even finished drinking it.

Ron and Hermione were there when Harry woke up the next time. They were sitting by his bed quietly talking, but stopped when they saw Harry reach for his glasses.

"Harry…" Hermione started, then stopped, unsure of what to say.

"I'm okay," he said looking at her. "I can barely feel the pain anymore."

"We never slept, the night you were gone," Ron said. "We waited up for you to get back from detention, when it started getting light out, and we were allowed to leave the common room, Hermione and I went to look for you. We heard Snape shouting and turned the corner to where he was, and saw you fall over in front of him. I thought he hit you or something, but he got you on a stretcher and took you to the hospital wing. We followed him here, and he left you on one of the beds before going to Madam Pomfrey's office, so we snuck inside. You were…you're clothes…all the…blood…" Ron couldn't seem to get the words out anymore. He had gone very pale and sounded completely shocked.

"We thought you were dead," Hermione said quietly, her eyes were very red. "You were, so pale and cold. I was so scared Harry, I really was. We had to hide again as Snape and Madam Pomfrey left the office. Snape left the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey immediately put you on a stretcher to move you someplace further back, as soon as she was out of sight, we left. We kept trying for days after that to find out what happened, but even Dumbledore didn't know. Then, yesterday, he told us you woke up. We were so relieved, and he said we could see you today. Harry…I…" but she choked off the rest, and started crying. Ron put his arm around her and just let her cry. Harry didn't know what to say to comfort her, so he just watched. He started to think about Cho and if she had heard about anything, when the door to the hospital wing opened.

The three of them looked up to see Cho walking in. She made her way over to the other side of Harry's bed and stopped.

"Can I sit down?" she asked looking at Harry. He just looked at her for a moment, not comprehending what she had just said, then finally came to his senses.

"Yes…yes please do…" he said. She pulled a chair closer and sat in it.

"I'm glad you came," he told her.

"I would've come sooner, but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone in here, not until you…woke up."

"Harry," Hermione said, "what happened? Who did that to you? Was it…You-Know-Who?" Harry just looked from her to Cho and back at Hermione.

"Um…I don't think…" he started.

"I know Harry," Cho said. "When you were missing I went to Ron and Hermione because I knew if anyone would know anything, they would. I got them to tell me what's been happening this year. I know about the Zlam, and I know about Mr. Fudge, and I know about Voldemort."

Harry looked at her in disbelief, his first reaction was anger at Ron and Hermione for telling Cho, these were things he never intended her to hear about. But Cho must have seen this in his face and spoke up before he could.

"Don't be mad at them, they didn't want to tell me either. It was only by convincing them how much I truly care for your safety, and how very concerned I was that you were missing, that they told me." Harry smiled at her a little, for the first time in a while, and had a warm feeling inside. His anger melted away as he looked into Cho's beautiful, kind eyes.

"Please understand, I've only kept this from you because I didn't want you to worry."

"But I want to worry about you. I would hope by now you'd understand that."

"Harry," Ron spoke up, "did…did V-Vol-Voldemort…did he…do that to you…?" he said looking at the area where Harry had been bleeding from. Harry shook his head and sighed, and once again, began to explain what happened.

When Harry finished speaking, he looked around at the horrified faces of his friends. Cho then leaned forward and grasped his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Harry smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"I don't know what to say…" Hermione spoke up. "We have to find a way for you to give it back to them, there's no other choice!"

"Believe me," Harry began, "I couldn't agree with you more. I don't really fancy the idea of having to go through that again."

"Well, what we have to do, is speed it up," Hermione said.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You said that Forden told you, if you had more knowledge of your own magic, you'd be able to grasp theirs more quickly, right?" Harry nodded.

"So," she continued, "if you start learning new spells, charms, hexes and all of that, rather than wait for it to come to you, it may speed up the process. So you'll be able to transfer the knowledge before it, um…kills you…and before the Zlam come for you again."

Harry's face broke out in a grin.

"You might have something there…and it's the only good idea I've heard so far. Will you help me?" He asked her. Hermione smiled brilliantly at him.

"Of course, I will, ALL of us will! I'm sure we can tell Dumbledore and Sirius and they'll help too!" Hermione was brimming with excitement. For the first time since hearing about the knowledge, they had a plan. Cho and Ron seemed excited as well, though Ron seemed a bit preoccupied.

"Don't bother to hide your happiness there Hermione, I knew you'd find someway to make me a teacher's pet like you," Harry joked with her, but Hermione just grinned at him. Ron still looked deep in thought.

"Ron, what's up?" Harry finally asked looking at his friend. Ron looked up, startled out of thought.

"Oh…um, it's nothing big, I don't think. But I was just wondering; if the Zlam are really as powerful as they were saying, then why did they try to kill you using a knife? Why wouldn't they use magic?" Harry just looked at him, he hadn't thought about it until just this moment, and was about to say so when they heard anther voice.

"I can answer that for you."

The four of them turned towards the voice and saw one of the Zlam standing nearby. Harry recognized him immediately; it was Tytros.

Harry quickly jumped out of the bed, ignoring any pain he felt, and stood in front of his friends, not wanting them near Tytros. He knew there was very little he could actually do, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"What do you want?" he spat. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"That isn't what I came for," Tytros stated evenly. Harry wasn't sure whether or not to believe him, so he stayed where he was.

"What did you come here for, then?" Hermione spoke up.

"And how did you get in?" Ron added. Harry turned to look at his friends and saw they all had their wands out, ready to fight.

"If I don't want people to see me, they don't. You wouldn't understand but hopefully soon, Harry will," Tytros said.

"What do you mean hopefully? I thought you didn't want me to know…" Harry started.

"Forden didn't want you to know. As he is our leader, we do as he says, but I disagree with him, and this time, I'm doing what I believe to be right."

"And what's that?" Harry said.

"I came to tell you what I know. Your friend has already figured out what to do though. The more you learn of your own magic, the better chance you have of learning how to make the transfer with ours."

"So, you're not here to take Harry back, to…kill him?" Cho asked.

"No. I'm not. That's not to say Forden won't send someone else, but it won't be me."

"Why did you do it the last time then?" Harry asked.

"I only came in hopes I could take the knowledge from you. I would die and you could live on, which I would gladly do. When I was unable to take the knowledge, I only took you back to our forest because I was ordered to do so, but I didn't intend for that to happen. When you escaped I immediately left, to see if you made it back here, and I've watched you these past two weeks."

"But, if you're not here to take Harry, won't you get in trouble?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I could. My intention is to stay here until Harry can transfer the knowledge to me, then I will bring it back to my people."

"But you'll die…" Harry said.

"I know this already, I volunteered to do it once, and I will again. You should not be killed, there are too many of your kind that look on you as a hero for defeating Voldemort. And you are the only one who can defeat him again."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked. "I only barely escaped from him the last two times since he has regained most of his strength, how can you say I'll be the one to defeat him?" Tytros looked at him with what could only have been a smirk on his face.

"That's not what I'm here for today, but believe me when I say, I don't want you to die."

"You said you could tell us why you didn't use magic to try and kill Harry, why did you use a knife?" Ron spoke up.

"Zlam don't use magic to kill. We never have, and we never will. The blade was created to make death as painless as possible, when it is used correctly. You would have died immediately, had you not moved out of the way."

"Not far enough out of the way," Harry said rubbing his side. "So, did you just come here to tell me that I need to start learning spells faster, or was there something else?"

"I am staying here, to watch you, until you are ready to make the transfer. I can't go back until then, or I will be executed. Besides, Forden will try to get you again, and I can help to defend you against whoever he sends."

"I really don't understand why you're willing to…to give up your life, and disobey your leader, for me."

"You don't need to understand. You just need to trust me, do you?" Tytros asked. Harry looked at him for a few moments before answering.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I do. Though I don't know if I'll be able to make Dumbledore or Sirius trust you. Okay let's face it, definitely not Sirius. How will you be able to stay here?"

"They won't see me, don't worry, just know that I am here. Do everything you can to learn more about your magic, and avoid doing anything alone."

"I've been told that by everyone, don't worry," Harry said rolling his eyes.

"I must go now, the others are coming. I'll speak with you soon," he said, and before any of them could say another word, he vanished. Harry turned to his friends, just as the door to the hospital wing opened, and Dumbledore came into the room.

Harry stayed in the hospital for two more days before being allowed to leave. He and the others had told Dumbledore Hermione's idea to speed everything up so the transfer could be accomplished sooner, but didn't mention Tytros.

"I was actually thinking the same thing myself, and I believe, it is our only option. Normally we don't like to show students certain magic until we feel they are ready, but in this case, it is certainly necessary," Dumbledore told them. "I will speak with some of your instructors that I fell can help you with this and let you know how we'll go about it."

So when Harry began classes again the next week, he found out what Dumbledore had set up for him. After his Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall asked him to stay after to speak with him.

"Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore has set it up so that you will spend a few hours after classes with me for a couple of weeks so you can start practicing more advanced magic. Next week you will be with Professor Flitwick, then Professor Lupin, then Professor Dumbledore, and lastly Professor Snape. Depending on how well you seem to be learning, you may spend more or less time with any one of us. I know you are taking many more classes with other instructors, and need to get your work done for them, but they have been notified of this as well, and will be a little more lenient with you. However, with the way you've been doing this year, I don't know if it will really be too difficult for you." She smiled at this last part, but only for a second. "So get on to lunch now, and I'll see you this evening, unless you have any questions now?"

"No professor, no questions." he said. "Thank you, see you later." She nodded at him and he turned and headed for the great hall.

Harry ended up spending three weeks with Professor McGonagall and by the end of it he knew more about transfiguration then most 7th years did. Anything she talked about came to him relatively easy and he could do most of the changes on his first try. She wanted him to continue attending class though, if only not to bring up any unnecessary questions from the other students.

He spent the weekends with Cho, Ron and Hermione, pouring over books in the library looking for spells they didn't know or hadn't tried in class.

After one week with Professor Flitwick, Harry was beginning to feel strained Professor Flitwick was always a very pleasant person to be around. However, since Halloween of his fifth year, he had treated Harry like a piece of glass that might break at any second, which Harry thought was a bit much.

After his first Friday session with Flitwick, Harry went to his common room, feeling very tired. Hermione noticed immediately how drawn he looked and tried to cheer him up.

"At least you have some time off tomorrow, with the ball and everything."

Harry stared at her in shock, he had completely forgotten about it.

"As long as I don't sleep through it, I'm exhausted," he said, sounding miserable.

"Then go to bed, tomorrow's Saturday and the balls not till tomorrow night. You'll be fine," Ron said.

"Easy for you to say," Harry said grinning at him. "You don't have to deal with Flitwick thinking you're a delicate antique that needs to be handled with care, do you? If I weren't learning so much from him, I'd ask to move on to Remus' sessions."

"A delicate antique?"

"He still hasn't gotten over Hogsmeade."

"Oh…"

Harry yawned then, and gave a big stretch.

"You're right Hermione, I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning,"

"Or the afternoon," Ron said smiling.

Harry tried to glare at him, but couldn't he just laughed to himself and headed upstairs. After the past few weeks, he found he was really looking forward to the ball, and drifted to sleep full of pleasant thoughts.

The next evening Harry was completely awake and ready to have fun. He and Ron put on their dress robes, and waited for Hermione and Ginny downstairs. When Hermione showed up, she was wearing the same color blue robes she had worn in their fourth year, which looked great with Ron's, and she had made her hair all straight and smooth again.

"Is Ginny ready?" Ron asked her. But Ginny came into the room before she could answer, she was wearing dark red robes, and her hair was all piled on her head, she looked beautiful, but also like something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, trying to look in her eyes, but she was avoiding doing so.

"Nothing," she said absently. Then she walked past them and through the portrait hole. Ron and Harry both looked to Hermione.

"She's been like that since last night. Won't talk to anyone, or say what's wrong," she explained.

"Does she not have someone to go with? Colin turn her down this year?" Ron said smiling.

"Not funny Ron," Hermione said glaring. "No, Sean asked her to go, but something else is wrong."

"Well, maybe we can find out tonight," Harry said.

"I don't know if we should bring it up, let's just try to get her to have fun. If she wants to tell us she will," Hermione said.

"I dunno," Ron said. "The last time she waited to tell us something people were turned to stone…remember?"

"All too well," Hermione said. "But I don't think it's that bad this time. We don't have to talk to her tonight at least, okay? Let's just wait until tomorrow."

"Okay," Ron said with a sigh. "Let's head down then, shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm for Hermione to take. When they got downstairs, Harry saw Cho waiting for him in front of the great hall, and went over to her.

"You…you look beautiful," he said meaning it. She had on deep hunter green robes and she had made her hair very curly, and it hung in tendrils all over.

"Thank you," she replied, blushing. Harry held out his arm and she put hers through it, and they walked inside together.

Everything was decorated beautifully in blue and gold. Ron and Cho got into a debate on what fouls could actually be called on a keeper that lasted all through dinner. Harry tried to join in, but it just wasn't happening, so he talked with Hermione quietly about how his after class sessions were going. Ginny sat across from them, barely touching her food or talking to Sean, who was looking a bit irritated by her behavior.

When dinner was over, they all got up to dance. Ginny came, but didn't look like she wanted anything to do with it. Harry saw that Malfoy kept staring towards Ginny and she was looking anywhere but at him. He wanted to ask her what was going on when she suddenly let go of Sean and walked back to the table. Sean looked after her for a second and looked as if he were about to go over to her, but shook his head and walked towards a group of people standing on the opposite side of the room.

"Okay, I know we said we'd wait till tomorrow," Harry said when he and Cho were near Ron and Hermione, "but we really need to find out what's up with Ginny."

"Harry, just let her be for tonight," Hermione said.

"But it seems very important, she's not having any fun because something is bothering her very much. Look at her." Harry said nodding behind him. He saw Ron and Hermione look beyond him towards their table, and watched both of their faces change. Hermione looked shocked and Ron looked as if he were ready to explode.

Harry quickly turned around to see Malfoy sitting very close to Ginny and talking to her. He had a look of the utmost glee on his face and she looked ready to cry. Ron let go of Hermione and started storming over towards her. Harry gave Cho an apologetic look and ran after Ron, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"Let go of me Harry," he said very quietly staring hard at Malfoy. Harry didn't let go; he just waited until Ron looked at him.

"I agree we need to see what's going on…but we're not gonna go over there and start swinging, okay?"

Ron didn't move for a minute, and Harry thought he was going to say no, when finally he nodded. Harry let go of him and they went over together, and caught the end of what Malfoy was saying.

"…there's no other choice, it's tonight or never, understand? What do you two want?" Malfoy said noticing Harry and Ron.

"What do you want with my sister?" Ron asked.

"That's between me and her, and anyway, we're finished, aren't we?" he asked grinning wickedly at Ginny. She nodded and looked away quickly, becoming fascinated with the wall. Malfoy stood up and pushed past Harry and Ron, going back to the group of Slytherins. They both watched him go, then turned to Ginny.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked immediately, looking furious. "What did he want?"

Ginny looked at him, appearing quite scared. Then she abruptly stood up, and ran past them, out of the great hall.

Harry and Ron looked after her as Hermione and Cho finally came over to them.

"What happened?" Cho asked.

"We still don't know, but something's up," Ron said. "We need to find out what Malfoy was talking about."

"Well, the only way of doing that is by talking to Ginny, and we have to do it fast," Harry said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Because Malfoy was saying something to her about tonight or never. I think he's planning something tonight, and Ginny is somehow involved."

"But…she'd never do anything to help Malfoy, right?" Cho asked.

"Well, normally no. But something's not right; she seemed scared. I think he might be forcing her to do something," Harry said.

"How?" Hermione said.

"That's what we have to find out," said Ron. "I'm going to talk to her, I bet she went back to the common room."

"We're coming too," Hermione said. The four of them headed for the doors and stepped out into the hallway. They started in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, when Cho stopped, Harry tapped Ron and Hermione and they all turned to look at her. She was squinting down the hallway they had just passed, then she looked at the others and beckoned them over, but motioned for them to be quiet. When they were right next to her, she pointed down the hallway.

"Do you see someone down there, off to the right a little?" she asked.

Harry could make out someone and he saw the others were nodding as well. They could tell it wasn't a student, but it was too dark to see the person's face. He was just standing there, looking at the wall, not acknowledging them staring. Harry took a step down the hall, and Cho and Ron grabbed his arms.

"No Harry," Cho whispered fiercely. "We'll go get someone."

Before Harry could answer, the man started moving; he had turned towards them and was now heading in their direction. They backed up a little and Hermione was tugging Ron back towards the great hall, when the person stepped into view. Everyone froze completely, unsure of what to do.

They were face to face with Cornelius Fudge.

Harry was the first to regain his voice.

"What are you doing here?" he asked angrily.

Fudge just stared at him, not saying anything. He looked almost like he was lost. Cho stepped up next to Harry, and he put a protective arm out in front of her.

"Mr. Fudge? Can you hear me?" she asked. Hermione and Ron had stepped closer now as well.

"Do you think he's under some kind of spell?" Hermione asked. Before anyone could answer Fudge leapt at her, grabbing her arms.

"Help me! Please, help…he's going to kill me! Please!" he cried out as he slid to his knees holding tightly to Hermione. Ron, who had went at Fudge the second he grabbed Hermione was trying to pry him off of her. Harry ran over and tried to help, Hermione just stood in shock.

"He's mad!" Ron screamed. "Cho, go get help!" Cho nodded and ran off towards the great hall.

"Mr. Fudge, let go of her! Do you hear me? Let her go!" Harry yelled as he tried to loosen Fudge's grip on Hermione.

Fudge looked up at Harry in confusion, then his face turned to anger, he snarled as he let go of Hermione and grabbed Harry instead. He dragged him to the floor and tried to choke him.

"You!" Fudge hissed. "Everything is your fault! I'll kill you!"

Harry couldn't reply because he could hardly breathe, Fudge's grip was cutting off all of his air. He grasped at the hands around his throat and tried with all his strength to pull them away. Ron and Hermione recovered from their shock at Fudge's sudden change in attitude, and had pulled their wands out. Before either of them had a chance, Fudge was pushed backwards, by the wind it appeared, and slumped against the wall behind him. Harry rubbed his sore throat as he and the others turned, and saw Lupin coming up to them with Cho close behind him.

"I told the first person I found," Cho explained breathlessly looking concerned at Harry who was coughing hard now.

"Harry, are you alright?" Lupin asked immediately. Harry nodded weakly and tried to tell him, but just started coughing again. "I want you to go to the hospital wing, right away," Lupin said as he looked at the others, "Will you take him?" they nodded silently. Ron helped Harry up and they set off, while Lupin tied up Fudge and levitated him, heading towards Dumbledore's office.

Harry wasn't in the hospital wing long. Madam Pomfrey inspected him, and gave him something for his throat, which instantly brought the swelling down. The bruises, she said, would be gone in a couple of hours. When Harry could talk normally again, she let him leave.

Harry walked Cho back to the Ravenclaw common room and Ron and Hermione waited just out of sight as he said goodnight to Cho.

"I'm sorry about everything, tonight," he said to her.

"Don't be, silly. None of it was your fault, and I had a wonderful time for most of it." She smiled at him and leaned forward and kissed him. She put her hand up and brushed his face softly, then said goodnight and turned to go into her common room. He said goodnight as she turned to shut the door, then went around to where Ron and Hermione were waiting.

When they got back to the common room, they tried to spot Ginny, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"She must've gone to bed already," Ron said.

"Well, I'll look in her dorm to make sure, but if she's asleep then we're waiting until tomorrow. Agreed?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, that's fair," Harry said. He really wanted to find out right away. If something was happening tonight, he needed to know. But when Hermione came back down and shook her head no, he and Ron said goodnight to her and headed up to their dorm.

They changed out of their dress robes and got ready for bed. Harry opened his trunk to put the robes away, but stopped. Everything looked out of place, like someone had gone through his trunk. He knew it had to be recently because he had just been in his trunk before the ball. He instantly started pulling everything out tossing things on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked looking utterly confused.

"Someone's been in my trunk, I'm checking to make sure everything's here," Harry replied quickly. He was almost to the bottom when he realized what was missing, and all the color drained from his face.

"Ron…the invisibility cloak. Someone's stolen it!"

Ron looked at Harry in shock.

"Are you sure? Let's look again…" he said coming over to the trunk.

"I'm positive!" Harry said, but he looked through everything again anyway.

"Maybe you put it somewhere else, in your closet?" Ron asked heading over to it.

"No, don't bother. I never put it anywhere but my trunk. I don't want anyone to see it, but apparently someone knows I have it."

"Well who have you told?" Ron asked.

"No one! You and Hermione know, obviously, but no other students know. I haven't even mentioned it to Cho!"

"Malfoy knows though, remember? That time at Hogsmeade, near the Shrieking Shack," Ron said.

"Okay, he might know, but even still how could he get to it? He has no access to our common room, let alone our dorm," Harry said, really starting to worry. Ron just stood there, thinking.

"You don't think," Ron started, "that this would have anything to do with what Ginny was worried about do you? I mean, I'm sure she would never give your cloak to Malfoy, but still…"

"Ginny doesn't even know about the cloak," Harry said.

"You have to admit though it's all a little too suspicious. Malfoy looked like he was threatening her and then later on the same night your cloak is stolen," Ron said.

"But we also know that Fudge was here tonight. Maybe it's something related to that."

"Let's go ask Dumbledore then. He'll certainly want to help."

"I agree, but we can't tonight. He'll be too busy with Fudge and the ministry and I just don't want to bother him right now."

"Well, it's your call, whatever you want to do."

"We'll go to him first thing in the morning," Harry said decidedly.

Harry couldn't sleep. He was sick with worry that whoever had stolen his cloak now had access to whatever they wanted. They certainly could get into his room, he knew for sure, but what were they really after? He got up and paced back and forth near his bed, and was just going to head downstairs to the common room, when an idea came to him. He ran over to his trunk and pulled out the Marauder's Map, then went to sit on his bed.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said, pointing his wand at the map. When the full picture came into focus, he started searching for anything unusual. He saw that Dumbledore was in his office with Lupin, McGonagall, Snape and several other names, which he recognized as ministry members. Fudge was there too. Harry was glad he chose not to go there; it was not a good time.

He could see all four towers with all the students in them, and Filch and Mrs. Norris where roaming the lower levels at this time. Harry sighed. There was no one he didn't recognize and nothing happening that shouldn't be. Did the person who took his cloak leave the school with it? He had to know what they wanted it for. Harry waited and watched for a few more moments in silence. It wasn't until he reached for his wand to turn off the map, that something happened to catch his eye.

Ginny had started moving around her dorm, very slowly. Harry watched as she went towards the door in the room she was in, and headed towards the common room.

Harry leapt out of bed and moved downstairs as quickly and quietly as possible. He glanced at the map again and saw Ginny was still moving slowly, but she should be entering the common room any second. Harry waited just out of sight, near the doorway to see Ginny.

When the door across from him opened he waited, but then it shut again without anyone coming out. He glanced at the map again and saw Ginny had left the room, but he never saw her. Harry couldn't believe it; she stole his invisibility cloak! He felt anger rising within him and watched as her name on the map headed for the portrait hole and she went through. He decided immediately that he was going to go after her. He ran back up to his dorm, threw on some clothes, went back down, and stepped through the portrait whole.

Slowly, he started walking the direction Ginny had gone, with the map in one hand and his wand in the other.

Harry had been following Ginny for quite a while now, and they were in the dungeon area. He made sure to never be in the same hallway as her because if she were to look over her shoulder he'd never know it, and he didn't want to be seen. He looked down at the map and saw she had stopped so he did as well, but his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the map closer. Ginny was outside Snape's classroom.

He watched as she opened the door and went inside. Harry quickly glanced at the map for Snape's name and saw he was still in Dumbledore's office with the others. He looked for Filch as well, and saw both her and Mrs. Norris now were searching the upper levels.

After a few moments he saw Ginny head back out of Snape's office, heading back the way she came. Harry looked around quickly for somewhere to hide, and had to sprint halfway back down the hall before ducking in an open doorway. He waited until her name on the map was well passed where he was hiding and continued after her. When she reached the tower, he would confront her, Harry decided. But where she should have taken a left to get back to their common room, she took a right.

Is she lost? Harry wondered. Surely she's been down here enough to know her way back. But he watched the map as she continued on her way. Then he looked ahead and saw there was now another student's name in the hallways instead of their tower. Draco Malfoy. Ginny was heading straight towards him and Harry followed and kept watch on the map. He saw her name enter the hallway he was in, then quickly jump back out.

Harry was now at the corner of his hallway and was peering down towards where the map showed Ginny should be. Then he saw her, she had pulled off the invisibility cloak and he could see her arms were full of bottles. She dropped the cloak on the floor and turned back down the hall that Draco was in. Harry quickly ran over and grabbed his cloak, throwing it over himself, then went into the next hall to hear what they were saying.

"Took you long enough, Weasley," Malfoy spat.

"Here just take them," Ginny said thrusting the bottles into his arms and looking disgusted. "Can I have it back now?" she asked.

"Now? I don't think so. Not until I'm sure this works." He smiled wickedly at her. "You've been most helpful though, thanks." Then he turned and stalked away, leaving her glaring after him. She stood silently for a few moments then turned and walked back to where she had left the cloak.

When she saw it was missing, Harry could see the color drain from her face, even in the darkness. She bent down and started feeling everywhere for it. When she realized it was completely gone, she sat down against the wall and started to cry softly into her hands.

Harry was suddenly overcome with sadness for her. He realized from the conversation that she hadn't done any of this because she wanted to, so he slowly pulled off the cloak and kneeled down beside her.

Ginny gasped in panic when she saw him and Harry thought she was going to scream for a second, but she seemed to calm down when she recognized him. She buried her face in her hands again, as Harry slid down the wall next to her.

"Ginny," Harry began quietly, putting his arm around her "it's okay…don't cry, alright? It's okay." Ginny looked up at him, tears streaked down her face.

"I didn't want to, it's just that…he…oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried breaking into fresh tears. Harry just held her for a moment, and let her cry.

"Ginny," he said at last, "we can't stay here. I know you didn't do anything on purpose and I really want you to tell me what happened, but we need to go back to our tower first. Okay?" She looked up at him and nodded.

Harry helped her up and threw the cloak over both of them, then they set off for the tower together.

Ginny had calmed down greatly by the time they both got back to their tower. Harry told her to wait in the common room while he put the cloak away. He quickly shut off the map and put both items into his trunk, then went back downstairs and sat in a chair next to Ginny.

"Okay, now please, tell me what he did that would make you help him steal," Harry said looking at her. Ginny sighed heavily, and began talking.

"Over the summer, I found a book in my parent's collection, that had all different potions I'd never heard of in it. I was reading through it and thought it would help me out this year, in Professor Snape's class, you know, because I'm not very good at them. But I knew my parents wouldn't let me take any of their books, cause I've asked before, so I didn't ask. I switched the cover of the book with the cover of one of my old ones, so they wouldn't notice it was missing, and brought the potion one here with me." She paused for a moment to look at Harry, and he nodded for her to continue.

"I was reading through it more after I got here, always in the library so Ron wouldn't see what I had, and found a few potions that I wanted to try out. So I took notes for them separately, because I didn't want to write anything in the book. One of them was a memory enhancer…I swear I wasn't going to use it to cheat!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, looking panicked.

"I wasn't thinking you would," Harry said, "so then what?"

"Well, I made a big mistake by telling my friend Lindsay about it, and she got very excited, wanting to use it for her tests and things like that. I told her I wouldn't use it for that, but she just kept pestering me about it. Then one day while she was talking about it again, Draco Malfoy was close enough to hear her, and I didn't know this until he grabbed my book away from behind me. I tried to make him give it back, but he wouldn't, and it has all my notes in it, plus my father's name on the inside cover!" Ginny said in despair.

"Well, why didn't you just tell McGonagall?" Harry asked.

"Because he told me he would say he overheard that I was planning to use the potion to cheat, and since it's all in my writing and the book came from my house, I knew that his lie could've been believed. Plus either way, my parents would be told and then they'd know I took their book without asking, and I'd be in so much trouble…" she trailed off. Harry just looked at her.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you steal my cloak and how did you even know I had it?" he asked realizing he didn't think she'd known.

"I've known you had the invisibility cloak since my first year," Ginny said. "When I…um…" she looked down and he could see her face going red. Then it hit him.

"When you took the diary back…" he trailed off.

"Yes, and I'm so sorry, I never meant to…to…steal from you. I didn't want to, but I felt it was the only way! I saw the cloak back then and I've known you had it ever since. When Malfoy told me to do this tonight, I knew the only way not to get caught, was to not be seen. So I left the ball early and got back to the tower before everyone…Harry…please, I'm sorry, can you forgive me?" she asked trying hard to keep herself from looking away from his eyes.

"Of course I forgive you Ginny," he said. "I may not agree with what you did, but I know you only did it because you felt it was your only choice."

Ginny looked thoroughly relieved. She sat back, took a deep breath, and started talking again.

"I've been worried about this for a month now, since he first took the book. I never said anything to you or the others, because I didn't want Ron to find out what I did. I told myself that at least Malfoy couldn't hurt anyone with the memory enhancer, which was the one he seemed interested in too. I only found out yesterday what he wanted me to do. I knew from what you were telling Ron and Hermione that you ran into him with all the potion bottles, that he had tried to steal the ingredients. When I heard that they shattered, I figured he would give up, he wouldn't try again because he wouldn't want to get in worse trouble. I was right too, he told me I had to get them for him, or he would report everything to Snape as if I were the one who was trying to cheat."

Harry just nodded. He wondered if Snape would have believed Malfoy after having been caught once stealing things. But he had been involved too, and for all he knew Snape thought he had stolen the ingredients, and Malfoy really was just trying to stop him.

"Ginny, I'm going to talk to Ron and Hermione about this, you know that, right?" he asked her.

"Do you have to?" she said looking very worried. "I mean, can't you just let it go…" she trailed off. Harry shook his head.

"No, I can't. Ron knows my cloak was missing and he's going to want to know how I got it back. Plus I want to find out what Malfoy is up to. If he's just cheating, or if he's trying to make it look that way to you but he wants something else. I'm gonna need their help to figure this out."

"What else could he want?" Ginny asked quietly.

"I don't know." Harry said. "But I'm going to find out."

The next day, Harry told Ron, Hermione and Cho, everything that had happened and all that Ginny had told him.

"I can't believe she did that!" Ron exclaimed, then lowered his voice as they were in the great hall and anyone could hear them.

"Don't be angry with her Ron, she feels bad enough, and you're not going to tell your parents, are you?" Harry asked.

"No, I don't really care about that, I just can't believe she stole your cloak."

"Well, after last night, I really don't think we need to worry about that again."

"So could Malfoy really just want the potion to cheat? I mean, is he doing that badly that he's going to fail?" Hermione asked.

"I dunno," Harry said. "Ever since Snape has stopped treating him like his favorite student, he might actually be grading him fairly."

"Yeah, but there's no way of knowing if he's doing badly enough to fail, since Snape spends most of his time yelling at us…and I don't think he'd tell us the grades if we asked him, no matter how nicely," Ron said.

"No…he definitely won't…" Harry said, thinking.

"Maybe he didn't want the memory enhancer potion at all," Ron started "maybe he's after another potion in the book and…"

"Then why would he have Ginny get him all the ingredients for it?" Hermione interrupted.

"Well," Cho spoke up, "I think the first thing we need to do, is get the book back from him. That way he has nothing to accuse Ginny with."

"Exactly," Harry said, "Then we try to figure out what he's using it for. If we get it back soon enough, we might not even have to worry about it. We can stop him before he starts."

"Where do you think he'll make it?" Ron asked. "I mean remember when we had to use…you know…used Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was so no one would find out. Malfoy would have to have someplace to do this in; that or tell the rest of his house what he's up to. And he isn't exactly the sharing type…"

"No, he isn't. Let's concentrate on getting the book back first. Then we'll worry about the rest."

Getting the book back, however, was not easy. Anytime any of them saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle always surrounded him. They also didn't know if he'd even have it on him. What if he left it in his dorm? All they could do was try and find a time when he was alone.

Fudge, as far as they had been told, was taken by ministry members. All they would say is that Thurston would be contacting Dumbledore soon. Yet there had been no word from him either.

Harry meanwhile was continuing his after class sessions. He finally finished with Professor Flitwick, with whom he spent a whole month, and was now starting with Professor Lupin.

"I'm so glad to be done with Professor Flitwick," Harry said as he stepped into Lupin's classroom. "He taught me a lot, but he's too scared to be around me."

"He's afraid of you?" Lupin asked, confused.

"No, he thinks I'm…fragile…you know, since Hogsmeade…"

"Oh, right. Well at least he's better towards you then Professor Snape."

"I don't want to think about it. He's the last person I want to train with, and Professor Dumbledore put him at the end of the list. I hope I'm done before I get to him…I so hope."

Lupin just smiled and shook his head, then he started the lesson. They went over all the things Harry had learned briefly, and talked about what they would be going over.

"One of the main things I want to do," Lupin said, "is really show you how to duel. I know you had a dueling club in your second year. But I don't feel that was, um…adequate training. So that is going to be the main focus for the first few sessions."

Harry nodded, eager to begin. He had been in a few duels, and still didn't feel he quite knew how to duel. Since they had spent most of the time reviewing, and then Lupin had to review the basics of dueling with him as well, they didn't get any real practice that day.

"We're going to begin with the practical lessons tomorrow," Lupin told him. Harry was a little disappointed that they wouldn't be starting tonight, but he nodded anyway, said goodnight and headed for his tower.

He only had gone a short ways though, when he felt someone watching him. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, but no one was there, so he quickened his pace. The feeling didn't go away and Harry took out his wand, it did little to calm his nerves though. He was almost running now, he glanced over his shoulder again, still no one there. But when he turned around he skidded quickly to a stop and brought his wand up in front of him.

There was a Zlam blocking his path.

Harry stood with his wand out ready to strike, but then he took a closer look at who was in front of him.

"Tytros?" he asked.

"Yes, it is me," came his answer.

"You scared me. What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in so long."

"I had a strange feeling this evening, like something is going to happen, and I wanted to make sure you made it safely back to your sleeping quarters."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, alarmed. "Is someone here?"

"I haven't seen anyone, no. It's just, a feeling."

"Would you be able to tell if any other Zlam were here? What would it feel like?"

"Zlam can tell when others are close by, but they are also able to block the senses that allow us to detect one another. If there were many of them, they could stop me from knowing they are here. But they would need to know I was here first, to block it."

"Do they know?" Harry asked.

"I do not know. Please, let's not stand here, we can talk as we go." The walked in silence for a few moments, but Harry was overcome with the urge to ask more questions.

"Tytros, when I was in your forest, Forden said if I had already had the knowledge of my own magic, like an experienced wizard, the knowledge of your magic would've come to me very quickly."

"That is true, it would have been very quick. An hour, maybe two."

"Would I die quicker too?"

"Yes, it all depends on how much you know. Once you know enough about your own magic, you begin to get our knowledge as well. Much of what we know consists of older spells and incantations, such as what Voldemort is after. But our real power, the power each Zlam is born with, is all mind controlled. No human can grasp it, or hope to use it, which is why it kills them."

"So then why are you so worried that I or anyone finds it out? If they can't hope to use it."

"It's not the mind power we're worried about. It's the older magic. You already know what I mean, as you don't want Voldemort to use the spell to extract your blood. Some of the old magic is very powerful, and as humans are power hungry, they should never be told of it."

"I understand that, but if when it comes to me, I die, I don't see how I'll be able to share the knowledge with other wizards."

"You don't die right away, Forden knows this, and so does Voldemort. That, I suspect is why he hasn't come for you yet. He knows you can't possibly be able to perform the spell yet, so he is waiting and watching you. I've seen his snake on these grounds, most likely delivering any information he finds out about you."

Harry shuddered thinking about Nagini watching him. He hadn't known he had been there after that one time near the quidditch pitch.

"I have one more question," Harry began, "How is it that Voldemort knows all of this?" he asked looking at Tytros, but he wasn't listening to Harry. He was looking intently in front of him and seemed to be concentrating very hard on the darkness.

Harry looked too, and just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he saw them. Three Zlam were in the corridor with them.

No one spoke, Harry just watched Tytros, who appeared to be concentrating very hard on something. He looked back and forth between him, and the other Zlam who seemed to be doing the same thing. Finally one of the Zlam in the group stepped away from the other two.

"Tytros don't fight us. You are not strong enough to overpower us."

"You are making a mistake, Mensok, the boy can't die," Tytros replied. Harry noticed he was looking very drained and he was broken out in a sweat. Then the one called Mensok turned, and headed straight for him. Harry glanced at Tytros, who didn't even appear to notice what happened, then back at Mensok.

Before Harry knew what was happening, his wrists were tied together in front of him, and Mensok was holding his shoulders. He realized he couldn't reach his wand now, as it was in his back pocket. Why didn't I grab it sooner? He thought to himself.

"Because I didn't want you to," Mensok said evenly. Harry looked up at him in shock. Could he read his mind? He looked at Tytros again, who appeared ready to faint from the stress. Harry had no idea what was happening; from what it looked like he was battling the other two, but in their minds as no blows were being visibly exchanged.

"I will take the boy, when you two are finished bring Tytros back with you. Forden wishes to speak with him," Mensok said smiling. The others just nodded, not wanting to break their concentration. Harry couldn't believe this; he had no way to fight or to help his friend. He was shoved roughly from behind and had no choice but to start walking. He was afraid if he fought then he would be forced to sleep again, and he wanted to be awake in case any chance to escape presented itself.

But he hadn't gone even five steps before Mensok grabbed him roughly and forced him to stop. Harry looked over his shoulder at him to see him staring ahead into the darkness. He listened carefully, and realized he heard someone coming. Harry felt both relief and fear as he didn't want whoever it was to get caught but they desperately needed help at this moment.

Then something happened, Harry couldn't explain it but it felt like the air changed. Mensok pulled him back a few steps near where the others were still locked in battle, and waited.

Lupin came around the bend and down the hallway. Harry called out to him immediately, telling him to go back and get help, but Lupin kept on walking. He shouted at him as he came closer and passed by, but Lupin obviously thought he was alone in the hallway, and for some reason couldn't hear him.

Harry watched with a sinking heart as Lupin reached the end of the hallway, and turned the corner. He knew that the Zlam had done something to make Lupin unable to hear and see him, and now he was even more desperate than ever. He would have no help escaping this time.

Mensok waited a moment after Lupin had turned the corner, then pushed Harry forward to start walking again. He glanced once more at Tytros expecting him to be on the floor at this point, but instead was shocked to see him standing straighter than before. His eyes were all white and he was now raising his arms at the other two Zlam, a second later they were surrounded by a red dome, much like the one Harry woke up inside of in the forest. Tytros turned to face Mensok and spoke.

"Let go of him."

"You know I can't. I will not betray Forden like you have, this is not our decision."

"But it isn't Forden's either. We shouldn't decide that this boy has to die because of Corfay's error in judgment."

"I will follow the orders I have been given," Mensok said with finality. "Now release them, and come with us. If you don't fight us further, then maybe Forden will not have you executed."

"I will not release them, and I will not let you take him either."

"You are too weak to face me."

"That won't stop me from trying."

Harry watched the two of them intently, looking back and forth from one to the other. Mensok let go of Harry for a moment and stepped towards Tytros.

"Harry, go," Tytros said quickly. But Harry didn't move, he couldn't leave Tytros there, outnumbered.

"Yes, run," Mensok said, "But it won't help you. I will finish with him and then we will come find you."

"The three of you alone, no matter what you try, will not be able to overpower all of the wizards in this school. You are outnumbered far too greatly to even hope for that," Tytros spat.

The two glared at each other and Harry backed up a few paces. He glanced behind him and saw the other two Zlam trying to break out of the dome they were in to help Mensok. He wondered why they couldn't just use their own powers to get out, but only for a second as Tytros spoke up again.

"I'm telling you to go now, if you don't want to be taken then move!"

Harry saw the battle, however they were doing it, was already taking place. Both of them were looking at each other intently, filled with concentration. He saw Tytros was indeed, not up to this, but he was doing it for him, and he couldn't let himself be caught.

Harry turned and quickly ran past the dome containing the other two, in the direction that Lupin had went just a few moments earlier.

He ran through the hallways as fast as he could, nervously glancing over his shoulder every so often expecting to see one of the Zlam right behind him and trying to get his wrists free so he could reach his wand. He was near his tower, but he couldn't go there, he had to tell someone the Zlam were here and he didn't want to lead them to all of his friends, so he decided to head straight for Dumbledore's office.

He passed the portrait of the fat lady and kept heading up the corridor. When he was almost there, he heard voices, arguing nearby. As he got closer he realized it was Lupin and Snape. Harry turned the next corner and saw them a short ways ahead of him, facing each other and speaking in raised voices.

"Professor Lupin! Professor Snape!" he cried running up to them. "We have to tell Professor Dumbledore there are Zlam in the school!" But when he reached them, neither one even acknowledged he was standing there, they just continued to argue. Harry was shocked, and a bit frightened. He was about to try again, when he heard his name, and stopped to listen.

"Harry would never do that and you know it Severus!" Lupin said fiercely. "It's just like you to try and blame him!"

"I'm not trying to blame him I'm simply saying we should consider it. Mr. Potter was caught the first time certain things were stolen from my office…"

"So was Draco Malfoy!" Lupin interrupted. "And Harry said he had nothing to do with that!"

"And of course, Mr. Potter has never lied," Snape said glaring at Lupin. "My point is, due to his current situation, if he were to try anything to speed up the process of gaining knowledge, other than what Professor Dumbledore is already having him do after class each day, it could kill him. And I know that he's dying anyway, but I'm speaking in terms of immediate death. That is why I'm asking that we search his dorm, for any trace of what was stolen."

"Then I think it's only fair that we search Mr. Malfoy's dorm as well," Lupin said angrily.

"So do I," Harry said, glaring at Snape. Still neither of them seemed to be hearing him. Harry was worried that he wouldn't be able to find anyone to tell what had happened, when both Lupin and Snape began walking. Harry quickly began to follow them, talking, even yelling, trying to do anything to make them hear. Finally he gave up on talking and just grabbed Lupin's sleeve and yanked on it. Lupin immediately looked behind him, then at Snape.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked, looking confused.

"Do what?" Snape asked, also confused.

"He didn't do it, I did!" Harry shouted, his heart began to race; at least he could still do something to get through to them. He grabbed the sleeve again.

"Stop it!" Lupin said angrily.

"Will you quit being childish? I am not doing anything!" Snape hissed. Harry shook his head; it was going to do no good if they just kept thinking it was a joke. He grabbed Snape's arm and pulled hard making him step away from Lupin.

Snape turned to look all around him, while Lupin stared at him.

"What is going on?" Snape asked quietly.

"Well, if neither of us is doing it to the other, obviously there's someone here with us, but we can't see them," Lupin said, glancing around nervously.

"Potter!" Snape said sounding infuriated.

"Yes!" Harry said, for once glad of Snape being suspicious of him.

"Will you stop blaming Harry for everything?" Lupin asked angrily.

"He has an invisibility cloak, and he's the only student that has one. Unless you know of a student with the power to turn themselves invisible?" Snape asked.

"We don't know if it's even a student!" Lupin countered.

"It IS a student! Remus it's me! Can't you hear me? Please?" Harry shouted.

"Did you hear something?" Snape asked. Harry looked at him quickly.

"Nothing. Let's keep going." Lupin said. Snape looked around again, but started walking. Harry let out a sigh of frustration and once again began following them. Snape had heard him, he just knew it, but Lupin didn't, and he still had to warn someone about the Zlam being in the school. When they were just a few feet from the statue into Dumbledore's office, Harry had a sudden idea. He got up right behind Snape, and swung his foot around in front of his legs. Snape fell forward as he hit Harry's leg and landed hard on his knees. He stood up and whirled around instantly.

"Show yourself Potter!"

"Okay, I know you may be embarrassed that I saw you trip, but really. You can't blame Harry because of that…" Lupin said laughing.

"I didn't trip, I hit something, I felt it!" Snape almost screamed at him.

"Yes I tripped you!" Harry yelled.

"There, did you hear him?" Snape said smiling now, "Where are you Potter?"

"Severus…" Lupin began. He wasn't laughing now but looking angrily at Snape.

"I can't show myself! I've been trying to get your attention but neither of you seem to be able to see or hear me!" Harry yelled.

"Don't lie to me! Where are you?" Snape hissed.

"I'm right here," Harry said from next to him.

Snape spun towards Harry's voice as Harry reached forward and grabbed Snape's hand. Snape just looked at his hand in amazement, while Lupin stared at them, confused.

"Severus, what are you…" Lupin started, but Snape put up his free hand to silence him.

"Potter?" he asked, looking in Harry's general direction.

"Yes!" Harry said almost shaking with relief, "I'm right in front of you!" He watched as Snape's eyes searched to see him, then he looked directly into Harry's eyes and stayed that way.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"You can see me?" Harry asked in excitement.

"Of course I can see you! Tell me how you did that!"

"Severus! What are you talking about! I've been standing here watching you talk to no one and it's getting ridiculous!"

"Remus, are you blind!" Snape snapped at him. "Mr. Potter here has just revealed himself and I want to find out why he felt the urge to trip me, if you don't mind." Snape turned back to Harry and saw his hands were tied together.

"Who did this?" Snape asked, beginning to untie him.

"The Zlam, three of them are here," Harry said urgently, I was coming to tell Dumbledore when I saw you two and I tried to tell you, but neither of you heard me. I've been following you since we were just past the Gryffindor tower."

Snape was just staring at him, not sure what to make of this. Lupin was still looking at him like he was crazy.

"Look, we can't just stand around talking, they're still here! They must be or…"

"Severus, I'm going inside now, you stand here and talk to the air as long as you like!" Lupin said suddenly, not realizing he was cutting Harry off.

"Why can't he see you, then?" Snape asked, ignoring Lupin.

"I think I have an idea why," Harry said stepping towards Lupin. He grabbed his arm and Lupin jumped and looked around, not seeing him.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Because it isn't amusing."

"Tell him it's me," Harry told Snape.

"I'm not doing anything. Mr. Potter is the one holding your arm."

"Don't be ridiculous! If he were here I would at least hear him!"

"No, tell him…tell him that he won't be able to hear me or see me until he knows I'm here."

Snape looked at him strangely but told Lupin, who just gave him a look that plainly said he thought he was crazy.

The statue moved aside then, and Dumbledore stepped out, looking around.

"May I ask what's going on out here? What are you two doing?" he said looking back and forth from Lupin to Snape.

"Professor," Snape started looking at Dumbledore, "Do you see Mr. Potter standing next to Remus?" Dumbledore looked towards Lupin and the back at Snape.

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Do you?" he asked.

"Yes," Snape said in a low voice, now paling a little. Harry started to get afraid. The last thing he needed was for Snape to think he was a hallucination. He grabbed his wand out of his back pocket, and said the first spell that came to mind.

"Lumos."

The tip of his wand set forth a bright light and both Dumbledore and Lupin could see it. The look of relief on Snape's face mirrored what Harry was feeling inside.

"Harry?" Lupin asked searching the air in front of him.

"Yes! I'm right here!" Harry said looking right at Lupin.

"I hear you…" Lupin said trailing off as his eyes suddenly focused on Harry.

"What happened?" Lupin asked him. Dumbledore walked over to where they were standing.

"I think we'd all like to know that, please, come inside."

"We have to do something," Harry said as they were walking up to the office. "There are Zlam in the school, three of them, and they're gonna kill…" Harry trailed off, realizing he'd never told them about Tytros.

"Who?" Lupin asked. "Who are they gonna kill?"

"What?" came Sirius' voice. They had just come inside and Sirius was coming over to them now. "Is Harry in trouble?" he asked immediately.

"I'm fine," Harry said, but Sirius ignored him, which didn't shock Harry too much. "He can't see me," he said looking over his shoulder at Dumbledore.

"Sirius, Harry is safe for the moment, now everyone please sit down so we can find out what happened."

Sirius didn't look convinced, but sat down anyway.

"Harry, please tell us what happened," Dumbledore said. Sirius immediately looked at him strangely.

"Um, Professor…Harry isn't…"

"He's here Sirius, but there are also Zlam in the school and we need to hear what Harry has to say in order to know what we're up against." Dumbledore turned and looked back at Harry, while Sirius just stared at him in confusion

Harry began to talk, and started with explaining as quickly as possible who Tytros was and why he trusted him. Then he moved on to earlier that evening, and all that had happened since he left Lupin's classroom. Before he got very far though, he felt a sharp pain go through his head, not from his scar, and he cried out.

"What happened?" Lupin asked coming over to Harry, who was holding his head in his hands.

"I…I don't know…" Harry stammered. His vision was very blurry and it took a minute before everything came back into focus. When it finally did, he looked around to see everyone in the room staring at him, including Sirius.

"You can see me now, can't you?" Harry asked him. Sirius nodded, unable to speak. "They're gone," Harry continued.

"The Zlam?" Lupin asked.

"Yes. They're not in the school anymore."

"How do you know?" Snape asked.

"I just do, I can't explain it anymore than that, it's just a feeling."

Snape looked at him skeptically but stayed quiet, while Sirius finally found his voice.

"Why couldn't I see you? Will one of you please tell me what's going on?"

Harry took his time, now that he didn't feel there was as much of a rush, and explained again what he had already told the others. Then continued from where he left off before, finishing with finally getting Snape to realize he was there.

"I can't believe I just walked right by you," Lupin said looking very angry with himself.

"It wasn't your fault, you couldn't see or hear me," Harry said.

"So how is it then that Snape was able to hear you, before anyone else?" Sirius asked.

Harry looked down at his hands, not really wanting to answer that question.

"I have an idea of why, though I can't be sure, but I think it's because of his um…mistrust towards me," he said looking at anyone except Snape.

"What do you mean?" Lupin asked.

"Well, when I was trying to get your attention the first time, neither of you heard me. So finally I tried grabbing your arm, and because this was the only thing I seemed to be able to do, I did it twice, but you thought it was Professor Snape playing a joke on you or something. So I pulled him away from you, hoping that you would both realize it wasn't either of you doing anything. You realized first that there had to be someone else there with you," Harry said looking at Lupin. "And Professor Snape instantly jumped to the conclusion that it was me, as he does so often…" He glanced at Snape then who wore an expression mixed with smugness and anger. Harry looked away quickly.

"When I said it was me, you thought you heard something," Harry said glancing at Snape, but you didn't really hear what I said, and kept walking. That's when I got an idea, I had to convince you that I was there, and you already thought I might have been. But Professor Lupin kept talking you out of thinking it was me. That's why I tripped you," he said looking directly at Snape this time, "and I really didn't want to, but it was the only thing I could think of to get rid of any doubts you might have that I was the one doing it…" Harry trailed off, looking at the confused faces around him. He sighed in frustration.

"I understand what you're trying to say," Dumbledore spoke up then, smiling. "In order to have someone see and hear you, they had to first be sure that you were there, to KNOW you were there. They had to have no doubt, and because Professor Snape believed you were using your invisibility cloak to play a trick on him, he was able to break whatever spell the Zlam put on you."

"Yes," Harry said, "I guess their spell only works while they're around, though because as soon as they left Sirius could see me again." Sirius was just looking at Harry, his face etched with worry.

"I wish you had at least told us about Tytros to begin with," he said.

"You wouldn't have trusted him, I know you wouldn't have."

"Whether I would have or wouldn't have I thought you would've confided in me. Or at least told Professor Dumbledore. You know how important it is that we know anything there is about the Zlam right now."

"You mean how important it is that I know, I'm the one that has to deal with them. It's obvious that if they want to cut me off from your help they can, and if Tytros wasn't here tonight then I wouldn't be here right now!" Harry said, feeling angry.

" I think we should still search the school, in case they haven't all gone," Snape said as he stood up.

"Severus you heard what Harry said," Lupin started.

"It couldn't hurt," Harry said. "They stopped the spell and I assumed they had left because of that. But Tytros was here for months, and I never sensed his presence, so they could still be here."

"Do you really think they're still here?" Sirius asked. Harry shook his head.

"No, I don't, but maybe, if they didn't take Tytros, he's still here somewhere." But Harry really didn't believe this either, if the Zlam had really left, which he knew they had, then they took Tytros with them. The only reason they didn't come after Harry was because there must be some truth in what Tytros told them, about not being able to defeat all of the wizards in this school. But that didn't mean they wouldn't come back for him.

"Severus, please get Argus and Minerva and start searching, Sirius, Remus and I will join you shortly," Dumbledore said. Snape nodded and left in search of the others. Then Dumbledore turned and looked at Harry.

"If you don't feel you need to go to the hospital wing, then I think you should return to your tower."

"I'm fine, I can go back to the tower."

"Remus, will you please take him?"

Lupin nodded and started for the door, but Harry didn't move.

"Was there something else, Harry?"

"This has nothing to do with the Zlam, but, I haven't heard anything in a while about Fudge. Was Mr. Thurston able to find out anything from him?"

Dumbledore just looked at Harry, with a kind of sadness in his eyes.

"Do you remember what I told you about Mr. Longbottom's parents?" he asked. Harry nodded and then he understood.

"You don't mean…"

"He won't be able to tell us anything ever again. It's amazing he was even able to recognize you the night he found his way here. Voldemort has given him a punishment that is almost worse than death."

"Then, what about…"

"We will talk about it later. Right now it is very late, and I really would like you to get some rest. Please understand, I'm not trying to keep anything from you, but right now I don't have many answers. The ministry is not being very open with information at this time."

Harry nodded feeling confused and disappointed, then turned to follow Lupin out of the office.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry and Lupin walked towards the Gryffindor tower side by side.

"Harry, I'm truly sorry for what happened to you earlier, I feel somewhat responsible…"

"Why?" Harry cut him off. "You couldn't have done anything and you had no way of knowing."

"But if I had walked you to your tower after our session…" he trailed off.

"Then no one would have been able to see you either, or they might have waited until later when I was asleep, I know they can get into the common room and then I wouldn't be talking to you right now." Harry tried to look reassuringly at Lupin, but he wasn't feeling very safe at the moment. He couldn't fight this enemy, and unless they could outnumber the Zlam, by a large margin, he didn't feel even the instructors here could help. The ministry certainly wouldn't be offering their services any time soon either. Harry tried to shake these thoughts away as there was nothing he could do about any of this now, when he heard Lupin speak again.

"Did you hear much, of what Professor Snape and I were talking about, when you first saw us?"

"Yes," Harry said quietly. "He doesn't trust me at all, does he? Even after last year."

"Well, no matter how much he trusts you, I know he doesn't want to see you dead. You heard that certain ingredients were stolen from him, right? You know what they can make, and what they can do to you?" Lupin asked sounding very concerned. Harry just looked at him in shock.

"I thought you were on my side! You sound like you believe I stole them, well I didn't!" Harry almost yelled.

"I didn't mean that," Lupin said looking at Harry very seriously. "I didn't doubt you at all. I was actually thinking that whoever stole them, might be making it to use on you." Harry just looked at him for a moment in shock.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get angry with you, it's been a rough day."

"Apology accepted, now I know you ran into Draco Malfoy carrying certain ingredients the first time Snape's office was stolen from. Do you think he did it this time as well?"

"I don't know," Harry said quickly. He wanted to tell Lupin, but he didn't want to get Ginny in trouble. Lupin looked at Harry carefully, but didn't say anything. They had reached the portrait of the fat lady now, and so each of them said goodnight, and Harry stepped through into his common room.

Harry barely slept at all that night, when he dragged himself out of bed the next day, he received curious looks from both Ron and Hermione.

"Long session last night?" Ron asked.

"Not exactly," Harry said. "I'll tell you downstairs."

When they were all in the great hall, and Cho came over to sit with Harry, as she had been doing for quite while now, he told them as best he could what had happened. After he finished, he looked around at their very concerned faces.

"Do you think they'll really kill Tytros?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. He looked pretty bad last night, but all I can do is hope that he found some way to escape," Harry said feeling guilty again.

"He must really believe in you, to be willing to keep putting his life on the line like that," Cho said. They couldn't continue the conversation much longer however, breakfast was over and they needed to get to their classes.

Harry spent most of the day trying to stay awake, but somehow managed to make it through all of his classes. When he headed for Lupin's classroom at the end of the day he was surprised to see Dumbledore waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Harry asked immediately. "Did something happen to Professor Lupin?"

"Calm down Harry, Remus is just fine. I'm here because I decided to switch with Professor Lupin's sessions. Due to the events of last night, I feel it necessary."

"Why, what are you going to show me?" Harry asked. He had been wondering about this since he first heard Dumbledore tell him he would be giving sessions as well. Dumbledore looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"I want you to understand, what I'm doing is something we do not teach students at this school. Because of the abilities you have shown in the past, I believe you possess the power necessary to perform this magic."

"What magic?" Harry asked eagerly.

"I am going to teach you…the unforgivable curses."

Harry just stared at him in shock.

"But…well…I'm not sure if I could…" he stammered.

"I pray you will never have to use them, and I know you are aware they are not even allowed to be used. I'm showing you these for two reasons. One is you have to learn as much as possible about our magic and this, while it may be horrible, is a big part of it. The second is, because of the way the Zlam can isolate you so that we can't even see you to help you, you may have no choice but to…use one of these…on them. I trust your judgment," Dumbledore said very seriously.

"It's just that…okay, maybe the Imperius Curse I could use, only in defense, but I don't think I could ever…ever, bring myself to use the Cruciatus Curse on anyone. I could never cause someone so much pain and suffering, knowing what it feels like."

"I am very sorry that you ever found out what it feels like. More sorry than you know," Dumbledore said looking into Harry's eyes.

"And Avada Kedavra," Harry continued, shuddering involuntarily when he said the words. "I could never use that one. I know it."

"But the fact remains that if it is the only way to save your life, you may need one of these, and you need to know all you can about our magic."

Harry just looked away, staring at the wall behind Dumbledore. He knew what he was telling him was right; there was no way around it. He had to learn everything, even these, if he wanted to transfer the knowledge. But he hated the idea of using one of them against another living thing, for any reason. The only exception he could even think of, would be Voldemort, but other than that, no one. Not even if the Zlam came did he think he could use one of them except the Imperius Curse, and would that even do anything? It seemed as though they had extremely advanced powers of mind control and he didn't think they'd have any trouble breaking whatever hold the curse might have on them. He was snapped out of his thoughts though, by Dumbledore's voice.

"Harry, I know you weren't prepared for this, but I hope you can see that it is necessary."

"Yes, I do see that it's necessary, and you're right, I truly wasn't prepared to hear this tonight. Would it be alright, do you think, if we started with the practical lessons tomorrow night?" Harry looked up at Dumbledore, waiting anxiously for his answer. Finally he nodded.

"Yes, I suppose we can wait one night, but no more than that. We truly don't have much time to waste and can't delay any further. We will meet at the same time tomorrow, in my office." Harry filled with relief and thanked Dumbledore as he left the room. He couldn't explain the dread that filled him when he thought about actually doing these curses, but he was glad he wouldn't have to do any tonight.

Harry had only been walking for a few minutes, when he heard someone in the hallway he was about to turn into. Not again, he thought to himself. He pressed up close to the wall and peered around it, he could just make out two figures a short distance away, both students. He breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't Zlam and started down the corridor, just as the two went down a side hall, but as he neared that hall, he heard them talking. He recognized one voice immediately as Draco Malfoy, and stopped to listen.

"It's in here," Malfoy whispered and Harry heard a door open. He looked around the corner and saw them stepping into a room. He turned quietly down the hall, and moved close enough to the room so he could hear better.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" came another voice, which Harry didn't recognize. "What if someone comes in here and finds all this stuff?"

"First of all," Malfoy said, "This room is barely used for anything, even storage anymore. I doubt even that no-good Filch would bother to look in here for cleaning supplies let alone students. Secondly, if someone does find this, we have the book from that Weasley girl, and we'll just make sure that it's found soon after, so no blame can be put on us. That's the whole reason for doing this so far from the dungeon area, we're much closer to the Gryffindor tower right now, it'd be much easier to blame one of them this way."

"What about if someone finds this place while we're in it. It'll be a little hard to blame her then, won't it?" the other boy asked.

"If that happens, which I doubt, we just say we happened to find all of this stuff in here, and we found the book as well. Again, it'll all lead back to the Weasley girl."

Harry could feel anger rising inside him as he listened, but he held it in, he knew that he couldn't reveal himself yet. He heard the other boy sigh heavily.

"I'm still not sure about this. What about getting from here and back to the dungeons each time we have to check on it? We can't blame our being out after curfew on someone else."

"Then don't get caught," Malfoy hissed. "And if you do, it's your own fault. You'll just have to take whatever punishment you get, just remember it'll all be worth it when we're done. Now if you don't think you'll be able to keep this a secret on the chance that someone finds you then tell me now, I'm not gonna let you or anyone else ruin this because they don't know when to keep their mouth shut."

"No, I can keep it a secret," the other boy said quickly. "But don't you think Snape will figure it out?"

"Parker," Malfoy sighed sounding both angry and frustrated, "he can suspect all he likes, but he won't be able to prove anything by the time we're finished."

"I guess I'm in…" Parker said sounding a bit reluctant. "How long did you say this will take again?"

"We'll be done by the beginning of May…so we'll have some time to spare," Malfoy answered. "C'mon, let's get going, I'll explain what you need to do on the way back to our room."

Harry turned and sprinted as quietly as possible to the end of the hall and turned the corner. He heard them close the door to the room they had been in and he headed off quickly to the next corner before they came into the hall he was in. Harry peered around back into the hall and watched the two of them head off in the direction of the dungeons, then he ran the rest of the way back to the Gryffindor tower, anxious to tell Ron and Hermione what he had just heard.

As soon as Harry stepped through the portrait hole, he headed straight over to where his friends were sitting.

"Hey," Ron said as he saw him, "Lupin let you out early?"

"What? Oh! No…I actually was with Dumbledore tonight, he switched with Lupin," Harry said, having completely forgotten about it after what he had just heard.

"Why?" Hermione asked immediately, "What is he going to show you?"

"Um…the unforgivable curses…" Harry said, not really wanting to discuss it.

"But the school isn't allowed to teach those to students!" Hermione said with alarm.

"Oh, come on Hermione!" Ron said looking annoyed with her, "I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he's doing. And if there's anyone here who would ever need to know how to use them, it's Harry."

"Even if I needed to, I don't know if I could," Harry said. "That's what I told Dumbledore, that's the reason he let me leave early, I asked him for some time because I don't feel…ready. But he's very serious about it, and we're starting tomorrow, whether I'm ready or not."

"You don't think you could use them? Even against…" Hermione trailed off.

"Voldemort? He's probably the only one. But against anyone else, I think the Imperius Curse would be my only option. I couldn't use the Cruciatus Curse, especially knowing what it feels like…and I could never use…" he lowered his voice, "Avada Kedavra…not for any reason that I can think of," he said shuddering.

"Then why is he teaching you, why the rush?" Ron asked.

"Because of what happened with the Zlam last night. These are the three most powerful curses of our magic, and he feels it might be my only defense against them, if I ever get in another situation like that. But like I said, I would only use the Imperius Curse, if at all…and against them, I don't even know if it would have any effect."

Ron and Hermione looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"It doesn't matter right now, I'm going to learn them and that's that. I hope I don't have to use them," Harry said shaking off the bad feeling that had settled in his stomach. He looked behind his friends to see Ginny walking over, and remembered what he originally wanted to tell them.

"Hey guys," Ginny said as she sat down with them. "What's going on?" Ron and Hermione started to shake their heads and say nothing, but Harry spoke up quickly.

"I heard something tonight, on my way back from Lupin's office, that I think you guys will want to hear," he said smiling at them.

"We need that book back!" Ron said as soon as Harry finished. "Now that we know exactly where Malfoy is going to keep everything that was stolen, that's the only thing stopping us!"

"He's going through an awful lot of trouble to make sure it looks like Ginny did this." Hermione said.

"Yes he is, and he's obviously not doing it alone. I wonder how many people he's letting in on his plan," Harry said.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault," Ginny said. "This never should have happened."

"Ginny," Harry started, "I understand that you're upset but we can't think like that right now. All we can do is figure out what to do to stop him and not get you in trouble in the process."

Ginny looked at Harry and nodded. The four of them talked for a while longer about what they could do to get back the book, and before they realized it, they were the only ones left awake. Hermione looked around the empty common room, then at her watch.

"Oh my, it is very late, we should really get some sleep. Let's continue this in the morning, okay?" she asked the others.

"You're right Hermione, I don't want to sleep through another day, today was bad enough," Harry said, stretching. The four of them said goodnight, and headed up to their dorms.

When Harry and Ron stepped into their room, they saw that Dean, Seamus and Neville were all asleep. Ron went over to his bed, but didn't get changed, he just stood there, thinking for a minute. Harry watched him as he pulled pajamas out of one of his drawers. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What?" he asked Ron, "What are you thinking?"

"Well…" he answered slowly. "You said that where they had put everything was close to here, right?"

Harry just looked at him.

"You want to go tonight, don't you?"

"They might have left the book there! We could have it tonight and be done with it!" Ron whispered urgently. He looked at Harry almost pleading with his eyes and Harry knew it was because he needed the invisibility cloak.

"Oh alright," Harry said at last, pulling the cloak out of his trunk. "We'll both go."

The two of them snuck quietly back down the stairs, and through the portrait hole.

Harry and Ron got all the way back to where Malfoy and Parker had been a few hours before and went into the room. They pulled off the invisibility cloak and started looking around.

"Jeez, it stinks in here!" Ron whispered loudly. "And all this dust is gonna make me sneeze."

"Just try not to make too much noise, and don't scream if you see any spiders," Harry said looking through some of the shelves on one of the walls.

"Spiders!" Ron exclaimed, looking around nervously. "Where, did you see any?"

"No, and keep your voice down. I only said it because this would be the kind of place I'd expect to see them, and I wanted you to be ready, but if you can't stay quiet than wait in the hall and I'll come out when I'm done."

"No, I can handle it," Ron said unconvincingly. He started searching in through the shelves as well, but kept glancing around nervously.

"This is pointless," Harry said after a few minutes. "If it was here, they probably wouldn't have buried it under things because they would want it to be found so Ginny gets blamed. And besides that if they had, the dust would be disturbed or something. Let's go, we'll check back again some other time, when we know they've been back or something."

"Maybe we should take something…" Ron said looking at the bottles of ingredients.

"I don't think that's a good idea, it would only cause Malfoy to turn Ginny in, and we're trying to make sure he takes the blame, remember?"

"I know…I just hate to leave everything here. It feels like we're not doing anything to stop him."

"We will stop him," Harry said looking directly into Ron's eyes. "I promise."

Ron looked back at Harry and nodded, he glanced once more at all of the bottles and sighed lightly, before getting back under the cloak with Harry. They left the room and shut the door silently behind them.

They had barely started moving when Harry saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. He grabbed Ron by the arm to stop him from walking out from under the cloak.

"What?" Ron whispered.

"Look over there," Harry said pointing. Ron followed Harry's outstretched finger a short distance to their left, and gasped.

"Is that…?"

"Wormtail," Harry said gritting his teeth. A few feet away, there was a small rat with a silver paw. The only thing going through Harry's mind right now was catching him, so Sirius could be freed. He slowly took a step in that direction. Now it was Ron's turn to grab Harry's arm.

"What are you doing? This could be a trap!"

"I have to…" Harry started.

"Why else would he be here? And why right here in this hallway? If you think about it this isn't where we'd normally be this time of night so why is he here?"

Before Harry could answer, Wormtail squeaked and ran further down the dark hallway.

"C'mon!" Harry said, pushing forward. Ron moved with him only to keep them both under the cloak.

"Can he see us through this?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Harry said, trying to find where he had gone, but the hall was very dark now.

"Harry, let's just go tell someone, we can't just…" Ron started.

"Tell them what? That we were taking a walk in the middle of the night and just happened to see Wormtail? We'd have to tell them why we were out here."

"Well if you catch him we'd have to tell them too," Ron pointed out.

"But I don't care, then! If we catch him it means Sirius is free! Don't you see why I have to try?" Harry almost yelled. Ron put his hands up to hush him and they both continued down the hall.

"I think we lost him," Ron said after a few minutes of nothing. "We should head back, we might've missed him, it's so dark down here…" he trailed off. Harry was determined to find him though.

"Okay, we can head back, but only to retrace our steps, if we don't find him we come back down here."

"Harry…"

"No! If you want to take the cloak and go back that's fine with me. I'm not leaving." He said. Ron knew that there was no changing his mind so he just shook his head.

"Then I'm not leaving either."

"Accio Cloak!" a voice rang out from behind them. They both grabbed their wands and spun around, but before they could do a thing, they heard another cry.

"Expelliarmus!"

Both of their wands flew from their grasp, and into the waiting hand of Peter Pettigrew.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at Wormtail. They were both ready to take a run at him to get there wands back, but before either one of them could move, they felt themselves pushed backwards, into the wall behind them, then to the floor. As they tried to stand up they both realized they couldn't, Wormtail had but them in a partial body bind, and they couldn't move their arms or legs.

He stepped over to them, holding Harry's cloak and looking at it thoughtfully.

"I remember when James used to sneak around using this, him and Sirius and Remus. Always off together, having adventures. I always knew they only included me out of pity, they never really considered me their friend," he sneered.

"Well you certainly proved them right, didn't you?" Harry asked in a very low voice, barely controlling his temper. "Now take your filthy hands off of it."

"You are in no position to be telling me what to do!" he hissed. The two glared at each other for a moment, until Wormtail looked away.

"I didn't come here tonight to reminisce," he said dropping the cloak on the floor a few feet away from them and putting their wands on top of it.

"Why did you come then?" Ron spoke up. "You won't be able to get out of here with Harry, someone will catch you!" he said trying to sound convincing.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not taking him with me, isn't it? I only came here to repay my debt…" he said looking away from them.

"Debt?" Harry asked. He remembered what Dumbledore had told him after he stopped Lupin and Sirius from killing Peter the night he was revealed. That had to be what he was talking about. He watched as Wormtail reached into his robes, and pulled out something small, then walked over and knelt down besides Harry. He could see that Wormtail was very nervous, and sweat was dripping down his forehead.

"You spared me once, and in return for that I'm giving you this. My master is aware that the Zlam want you dead, and he needs you alive. If you die with the knowledge he'll have to wait until their next keeper is ready, and the knowledge is transferred again, before anyone has access to the spell he needs."

"So you're doing this to keep me alive long enough so I can die for Voldemort? Don't do me any favors," Harry snapped.

"Shut up and listen! This will glow green whenever a Zlam is near you. As they get closer, the light gets brighter. We used these, among other things, when we tried to locate the Zlam in the first place. This will warn you of their presence, and give you time to get away. Just watch the light to know if you're getting closer to them." He reached out then and Harry flinched and tried to move away as Wormtail put the cord that the charm was hanging on around Harry's neck. When he backed up, he looked at Harry for a moment longer, then stood and turned away. Both of them watched as he changed back into a rat, and scampered off down the hall.

"Dammit!" Harry said out loud, banging his head against the wall. He tried furiously to move his arms, but they wouldn't budge. "I can't believe he got away again."

"I'm sorry," Ron said looking at Harry, "if I had just shut up we wouldn't have lost sight of him and he couldn't have taken us by surprise."

"It's not your fault," Harry replied in a strained voice, trying to slide himself towards the wands. After a minute, he laid back, breathing quickly. "How long does this take before it wears off?" he asked.

"Not sure, but we were talking to him for a while, so hopefully not much longer."

"Why does nothing turn out right? I get Mrs. Figg killed, Mr. Fudge is insane, Tytros was caught and possibly killed, and now I miss my chance to catch Wormtail and clear Sirius' name…" Harry trailed off.

"Harry, stop. You're not helping anyone thinking like that and I'm not gonna listen to it anymore."

"Like you have a choice," Harry said grinning at him. Ron glared back, but after a few seconds they both started laughing. "I know you're right," Harry said after calming down a bit, "I think I just needed to hear it…again…"

"Well I'll be glad to say it to you as often as necessary…hang on! I think I can move my arms a bit…"

Harry looked over at Ron, who had regained use of his arms from his elbows down. He pushed himself away from the wall towards the wands, and was able to grasp hold of his own once he was over there. Ron lifted the curse from both of them and they stood up shakily, flexing their legs to get the blood moving again.

"Let's head back to the tower, we're lucky no one has found us yet," Harry said picking up the cloak. Ron nodded anxiously and when they were both underneath the cloak, they headed back down the hallway.

They reached the tower quickly and Harry immediately pulled out the Marauder's Map and activated it. After a few minutes he closed it up again and put it away.

"He's gone…we were so close too," Harry said to himself.

"Well it's just as well, we already had a close call tonight, no need to go looking for another," Ron said. "Come back downstairs for a minute, let's look at that charm he gave you."

Harry looked down at the piece hanging around his neck in disgust and tore it off; he tossed it to Ron.

"You can have it, I don't want anything from him."

Ron looked at Harry in frustration, then beckoned him downstairs again, when they were in the common room, Ron inspected it closer.

"Look at this, it's a glass ball with what looks like a snakes…skull inside."

Harry was intrigued upon hearing this, and grabbed it back.

"Well, Dumbledore said that snakes were something of a natural predator towards the Zlam."

"So their skulls will let us know when one is close? That's creepy…" Ron said. Harry handed the charm back to Ron and started to walk away.

"You can't tell me you're not gonna use this!"

"I told you, I don't want anything from him. He even said he only did it because Voldemort needs me alive, he never would've come if it weren't for that. We both know he only does things that benefit him. He's probably afraid of being punished or something if I'm killed by the Zlam."

"So you're gonna let them kill you because of that?" Ron exclaimed.

"No, I'm not. I just don't want his help."

"I think you're being stupid," Ron said quietly. Harry looked up at him and saw Ron looked very angry, and he was shocked.

"I can't believe you want me to accept help from the man who's responsible for my parents' death."

"If I was in your situation, and someone I hated offered me help, that might save my life, I would take it. I don't care if it came from Malfoy!"

"Well you're not, are you?" Harry asked a little too harshly. Ron just glared at him.

"No, I guess I'm not."

"Then you don't know what it feels like, and you can't say what you would do. I have a feeling if Malfoy were to offer you help of any kind, you would be too suspicious to use it."

"But he said he was repaying his debt to you! Doesn't that count for something?"

"Obviously it doesn't," Harry said, then turned quickly and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow."

The next morning when Harry woke up, he felt bad for getting angry with Ron the night before. He looked towards Ron's bed, but saw he had already gotten up. I'll talk to him at breakfast, Harry thought to himself as he dressed quickly. He headed off to the great hall and scanned the Gryffindor table for his friends.

Ron was sitting with Hermione, Cho and Ginny and they were looking at something between the four of them and talking. Harry had a feeling what Ron had done, and felt anger start rising within him. He started towards the table feeling ready to explode, but when he got there and his friends turned to look at him, his anger vanished. They looked at him with faces full of fear and concern. He sat down with them and stared at the table.

"Harry," Cho began, "Ron told us about last night."

"I can see that," Harry replied, feeling anger start to rise again, but he held it down.

"Why wouldn't you want to use the charm? It would definitely help you," she continued.

"You don't understand…" he began.

"That's right I don't! What I do understand is that I don't want you to die because you were too stubborn to use every means available to you to protect yourself!" Cho said fiercely, almost sounding angry as well. Harry looked up at his friends, then back at the table.

"Harry, will you keep this with you? Please?" Cho asked.

"We don't even know if it works!" Harry said.

"If it doesn't than you're no worse off than you are now," Hermione spoke up.

Harry sighed and glanced at Ron, who was avoiding his eyes, then he looked at Cho.

"Alright, I'll keep it with me," he said at last.

"Thank you," Cho said, smiling. Harry could see all of his friends were genuinely relieved. He still wasn't happy about it, but he could see their point.

After they finished eating and got up to leave, Harry pulled Ron aside.

"Harry," he started immediately, "I'm sorry but I had to tell them…"

"Don't worry about it. I know why you did it."

"You do? You didn't seem to want to listen to me last night, so I had to find someone who you would."

"I know, and I'm sorry about last night. I know I've been getting angry a lot quicker lately. I don't even really know why, either, and it's been with you, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin…and probably a lot more too."

"It's just all the stress of everything. This hasn't exactly been our easiest year."

"I hope you're right…"

They stopped talking as they reached the classroom, and walked in together.

When classes had ended, Harry made his way to Dumbledore's office for their session. A feeling of dread had once again settled in the pit of his stomach that he tried hard to get rid of, but to no avail. He stepped past the stone statue and headed inside.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said as soon as he walked in. "Are you ready today?"

"Yes," Harry lied. He knew it wouldn't matter even if he had answered no. If he was going to get rid of the knowledge, he had to learn these spells.

"Are you sure? You've seemed very tired all day."

Harry looked at Dumbledore for a minute. He only remembered seeing him this morning so what did he mean all day? But he couldn't tell him about last night, so he just shook his head.

"No I'm fine. What will we be…using? For practice, I mean."

Dumbledore kept his eyes on Harry for a moment more, then turned and walked over to a corner of the room. He picked up a box and walked back towards the small table he had set up in the middle of the room, then proceeded to start taking jars out of the box and placing them on the table. Harry could see a spider in each jar.

"Why do we always use spiders?" he asked. "Professor Moody…er…Barty Crouch did the same thing."

"For two reasons. The first being that you can't see facial expressions on a spider. If you were to use a larger animal, no matter what it was, the facial expressions often hinder a person's ability to do the curse properly. Their conscience makes them unable to. The second reason is a spider's body is large enough to be able to see that the curse is working. You might have more trouble with an ant or a grasshopper."

"Well, facial expressions or no, I still didn't enjoy seeing what happened to them last time."

"I'm very glad you didn't. I'd be worried if you had," Dumbledore said smiling at him. "So we will start with the Imperius Curse and see how far we get with that."

"Okay," Harry said, taking a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

By the end of the first night Harry had easily mastered the Imperius Curse. He was able to make the spider on the table do whatever he chose, just by thinking it. Dumbledore had showed him exactly how to hold his wand, and more importantly how to focus his energy.

What surprised and frightened Harry most was how exhilarating it was. He felt almost natural performing the curse. He was almost anxious for the next session, but at the same time he hoped it never came. Dumbledore seemed shocked as well at the ease that Harry exhibited in controlling the power and energy required to perform the curse.

"It must be the knowledge," Harry said seeing the way Dumbledore was looking at him after one demonstration with the curse. "I won't be able to do it like this when it's gone, right?"

"That is a possibility. You've never tried to do this before, so we can't be sure until then."

"But you do think it's just the knowledge, right?" Harry asked.

"Truthfully…no. Since the first time you used the knowledge in class, and every time since, it only showed you how to do the spell. If you didn't possess the power, you wouldn't be able to have done any of it in the first place."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means you possess great power, at a young age. There are many wizards, both good and bad who can perform these curses. I can completely understand your resistance towards learning them, because all of these have been used on you at one point or another, but being able to perform them doesn't make you evil. It's very important that you understand this, that you know it," Dumbledore said looking hard at Harry.

"I do know it, I just didn't expect it to feel so…natural…" Harry replied, but he felt somewhat relieved that Dumbledore had known exactly what he had feared.

"That is the way of any magic you master. You didn't feel strange when you did well in one of your classes, right? Or the first time you flew?"

"But those are…"

"Those aren't used to hurt others," Dumbledore interrupted. "That's the difference. Don't doubt yourself, you are no different then anyone else who has learned these spells. The fact is you are a good person, and have no desire to use them against another, which is how it should be. The only reason I felt any surprise was because normally, someone of your age, has a harder time with magic of this magnitude."

"Well, we haven't gotten to the hard ones yet," Harry said.

"I doubt you will have any trouble with the energy required for those either. It's your conscience that would be the hindrance. But we will save that for tomorrow as our session is done for today. Please get more rest tonight then you did last night," Dumbledore said.

Harry said goodnight, again wondering how much Dumbledore really watched him while he was here, and left the office. The dread he had been holding in all day had at last dissipated, and he wasn't feeling as bad about coming back tomorrow.

"I can't hold it!" Harry exclaimed, releasing the spider from the Cruciatus Curse. He was at his next session and as Dumbledore had expected, he had easily mastered this curse as well, but he couldn't keep it going for long.

"You can, but you don't want to," Dumbledore answered.

"That's right I don't," Harry said quietly. "I can't stand to see something experiencing that kind of pain, and knowing I'm causing it, for no other reason then I need to learn how to do this."

"We can take a break then," Dumbledore said simply. "If you'd like."

Harry didn't answer but just looked at the spider that was scrambling madly across the table, dragging one of its legs. Why did there have to be any magic this painful? Wasn't it enough that wizards and witches could perform magic? Did they really need this to show the extent of their power? He shook his thoughts from his head though, when Dumbledore spoke again.

"Do you want to stop for a few minutes or continue?"

Harry looked up at Dumbledore, then back at the spider.

"I'll continue," he replied curtly. He reached over and grabbed the spider, placing it back in the middle of the table, then raised his wand.

"Crucio."

He watched as the light came out of his wand, and shut his eyes. If he had to do this, he wasn't going to watch, it was the only way he'd ever be able to hold it. He didn't move for about half a minute, then lowered his wand and opened his eyes. He didn't look at the table, but at Dumbledore, who was looking at him very seriously.

"The purpose of these sessions is to make sure you know how to do the curses, and because of that I'm not going to make you keep doing this. Understand that if you are in a life and death situation, closing your eyes would not be a wise decision, but for now I know that you can do it, and that is enough."

"Thank you," Harry replied.

"You can go back to your tower now, and tomorrow we'll begin on the last curse. If everything goes along as it has been, it will be our last session together."

"I hope you're right," Harry said more to himself. "Goodnight professor."

As Harry left Dumbledore's office after the third session he thought back to what he had just done. It wasn't as if he'd never killed a spider before, there were plenty of them in the cupboard when he had slept there on Privet Drive, but this was different. He had never done it with magic before.

He walked through the halls and just kept seeing the flash of green light that had come from his wand when he had said the words. Avada Kedavra. It was the curse that had killed his parents and given him his scar, the words that changed his life, before he even knew it. He sighed with relief as he walked, knowing the lessons with Dumbledore at least, were done. He could look forward to the weekend, and next week begin the sessions with Lupin again.

When he stepped through the portrait hole he spotted Ron, Hermione and Ginny and went over to them.

"You're done, already?" Ron asked.

"Dumbledore didn't think I needed to do this one more than once. Thankfully," Harry replied.

"But you really did it?" Ginny asked wide-eyed.

"Yes," Harry said looking down. He was getting a headache, and figured it must be from all the stress of the week.

"Well, at least the weekend's here," Ron said cheerily. "Time away from your sessions and all."

"Yeah…" Harry trailed off now pressing his fingers to his head.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked sounding concerned.

"What…oh yeah…I'll be fine. I have a headache," he said.

"Your scar?" Ginny asked in a small voice.

"No, just a headache," he replied trying to smile at her as the pressure in his head increased. He sat back in the chair and didn't move.

"Harry I think we should go see Madam Pomfrey…" Hermione started to say.

"I don't exactly feel like moving right now, okay?" Harry snapped at her. Nobody said anything, but he could feel them all looking at him, and he instantly regretted what he had said. Why was he so angry lately? His thoughts were interrupted though by a blinding flash of pain that shot through his whole body. Harry stiffened in his seat and held in the cry that was threatening to escape from him. It passed, almost as quickly as it had come, and he relaxed shakily into the chair.

"What just happened?" Ron asked after a few moments silence.

"I don't know," Harry replied opening his eyes and looking at his friends. "But I hope it doesn't happen again."

"I bet it was because of the knowledge," Hermione said, "because you said it wasn't your scar, right?"

"Right," Harry answered, "and I'm sorry I got angry with you. I don't know why that keeps happening."

"It has to be connected," Hermione replied. "Maybe it means you're closer to being able to make the transfer."

"Well there's that, or it's closer to killing me. I just wish I knew which one."

No one said anything to that; they just looked at each other, fear showing on their faces.

"I'm going upstairs," Harry said, standing. "I'll talk to you guys later."

No sooner had Harry shut the door to the room then he heard it open again, when he turned around he saw Ron standing there.

"Tired?" he asked, not really expecting that to be the reason Ron had followed him.

"No. We need to talk about this. There are too many things we're not telling Dumbledore. If you're not going to ask for their help then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, but telling Dumbledore and Sirius about what just happened wouldn't help because they know as much as I do and that isn't saying much. Why worry them?"

"Why not? Maybe one of them will be able to figure something out, how can you be so sure they can't do anything?"

"Ron, just let it go," Harry said glaring at him. Ron stared back and then started speaking again.

"I won't. I'm not going to tell anyone anything you don't want me to, but I'm not going to let this go. You're acting ridiculous."

"Oh am I? What happened to you? You used to take my side now you're always against me! Hanging out with Hermione too much, are you?" Harry said loudly.

"What am I doing that's so bad? I told you I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm not going to stop trying to help you." Ron said through clenched teeth. Harry just turned away, feeling furious.

"Why are you so angry lately?" Ron asked after a few moments of silence. "I can't remember you ever getting like this before, not over small things, anyway."

"This isn't exactly small…" Harry started.

"I didn't mean it was. I just meant...you're the one who's always trying to get me to hold my temper. The last time I saw you this angry was when you found out Sirius was your godfather and you thought he'd betrayed your parents. But now you seem ready to explode at the thought of your friends trying to help you, and we're all a bit confused by it."

Harry stared at his friend, no longer feeling angry, just sad. He walked over to his bed and sat down. Ron walked over to his bed as well, sat across from Harry, and waited.

"I've noticed that too," Harry said finally. "I've been thinking about it very much lately."

"We all have."

Harry and Ron looked over their shoulder to see Hermione standing in the doorway.

"Harry, could you come downstairs for a moment?" Hermione asked, then without waiting she turned and left the room. Harry and Ron looked at each other questioningly, then followed her.

When Harry and Ron got downstairs, they saw Hermione waiting by the portrait hole, beckoning them over. As they got closer she swung the door open and stepped through, then started walking. Ron started to ask her what was going on, but she just raised her hand, and kept going. They all walked in silence until they got to the hallway where the Zlam attacked Harry.

"This is where you said it happened, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry said slowly, "but what does that…"

"Do you know when you started getting angry all the time?" she interrupted him. Harry just looked at her for a minute, thinking.

"It started that night, actually. I remember getting angry with Sirius, but I didn't say anything to him. Then again afterwards with Remus when he was walking with me back to the tower."

"So it started immediately then," Hermione said quietly.

"What did?" Ron asked. Hermione ignored him and continued to look at Harry.

"Tell me where you were standing."

"What?"

"When the leader, you said his name was Mensok, right? Where were you standing when he first came near you?" she asked. Harry and Ron looked at her strangely, but didn't say anything about her question. Harry took a few steps down the hall.

"About here."

"Are you sure?"

"I think so, though I did have other things on my mind at the time," Harry said rolling his eyes.

"You also said you didn't see him until he was right next to you, right?"

Harry thought for a moment.

"Yes, that's right, I didn't. I saw him step away from the others, and start in my direction. Then the next thing I knew, my hands were tied and he was holding my arms."

Hermione seemed to consider this, then she walked past Harry and looked at the wall behind him. After a minute she put her hands up directly in front of her eyes, and started rubbing at the wall. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then back at her.

"Um…Hermione? Are you going to tell us what it is you're doing?" Ron asked.

"Are you positive that's all you can remember Harry?" she asked ignoring the question. He nodded.

"Hmmm…" she said, as she stepped past them. She started back towards the tower leaving the two of them staring at each other.

Harry and Ron tried to get Hermione to tell them what was going on afterwards, but she wouldn't say. All she would tell them is that she wasn't sure, and would need to look into it further. She spent the whole next day at the library, with her nose in a book. Harry or Ron would have to come and physically drag her away so she would eat something. That evening, they filled Cho and Ginny in on what had happened on Friday night.

"Do you think she knows what's wrong then?" Cho asked as the four of them sat in the great hall.

"No, not yet, but knowing Hermione, she'll have it all figured out soon enough," Ron said smiling.

"But she thinks it has something to do with the Zlam, right?" Ginny asked, then lowered her head, "The reason you're angry so much, I mean…" She glanced back up at Harry who was looking at her. He sighed heavily.

"I guess so. Though I can't understand why they would want to make me angry. I mean, what sense does that make?"

"Maybe they want you to get angry at one of the professors, and get detention again. That's how they got you the first time," Ron said.

"But they were able to get to me just fine the second time too," Harry said. "They would have succeeded if Tytros hadn't been there."

They all looked up as Hermione walked over to them.

"Look who's not in the library," Ron said cheerfully, smiling at her. "What happened? Finally get hungry?"

"The information I need isn't there," she said, ignoring Ron and looking at Harry. "I need to talk to Dumbledore."

"What? Hermione, you haven't even told me what's going on!" Harry exclaimed.

"That's because I'm not sure! I have an idea, but I don't know for sure, and unless I come up with a reason to get a book out of the restricted section, I need to talk to Dumbledore."

"Well, we could use the invisibility cloak…" Harry said quietly.

"Look where that got you last time you tried it, besides I'm not even sure it's there. You should tell him anyway, you know."

"If you're going to go and tell Dumbledore everything, I want to at least know what you think is happening. Will you tell me that at least?" Harry asked. He could feel his temper starting to flare again, and was holding it in. Hermione looked at him for a minute, considering, then finally nodded.

"Fine. Walk with me," she said beckoning him. Harry glanced at Cho, Ron and Ginny, then stood up and followed Hermione out of the great hall.

Hermione was walking so fast Harry had to trot to keep up with her. She stopped though, once again at the spot where the Zlam attacked Harry.

"What are we doing here? I thought…"

"Look here," she said pointing at the wall. Harry looked where she was pointing but didn't see anything. She sighed and rubbed her hand on the wall, then brought it up in front of Harry's face.

"So your hand is dirty. Better not lot Filch see you, he'll think you put the dirt there on purpose and make you scrub the walls."

"Look closer," she said pointedly.

Harry stared at her hand for a few minutes, then he saw something. He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a more lighted area. Yes there was dirt on her hand, but there was something mixed with it, it was deep dark red and it was almost, glowing, now that he could see it better.

"What is it?" he asked still holding her hand up and staring.

"It's a very fine powder called Pyromus."

"What does it do?"

"Well, to put it simply, it makes someone act very much like you're acting now. You become hot-tempered. It's supposed to start off relatively slow and work through you. As time goes on, someone who's infected becomes dangerous, there've even been cases where they've killed."

"But I wouldn't ever kill anyone!" Harry exclaimed, dropping her hand.

"You wouldn't have a choice. You basically lose any control you would normally have over your actions."

"Well if this is what is making me act this way, then what do you need to ask Dumbledore? What are you unsure about?" he asked looking at her anxiously.

"Well, you're also supposed to feel it working, you would get very hot. But you haven't mentioned that happening yet. I've been doing research all day, and I can't find another person that didn't feel any heat, you know…inside them. Usually you feel the heat whenever you get angry, but you aren't feeling it."

"So maybe it isn't that then?" Harry asked hopefully.

"But I also can't find anything else that would do this…" she said trailing off in thought.

"Well, if the Zlam did this, there's a lot we don't know about their magic, it could be something completely different," Harry suggested.

"True, but this is what Pyromus looks like," Hermione said, holding up her hand, "and I can't think of a reason why this would be there, right where you were attacked, if they didn't bring it here."

"Okay Hermione, let's start over. Explain to me how someone becomes infected with this stuff, and what's supposed to happen afterwards."

"For someone to be infected they would need to inhale the powder. Not strongly, just a little bit would do it. Once you're infected, it starts to spread through you; the amount you inhaled determines how fast it spreads. You'll start to get angry much quicker at anything that happens, but you'll feel hot too. Most people that are infected complain about feeling overheated, they blame their short temper on that and the real problem goes unnoticed. As time passes, their anger becomes uncontrollable, and like I said before, people have been killed."

"So why would the Zlam give me this? They were planning on killing me…so they probably didn't expect me to be alive long enough for this to work, right?"

"Well…there's something else…" Hermione said slowly.

"Yes…?" Harry asked.

"The reason that you feel the burning sensation along with the anger is because, it really does burn you. Everyone that lives through the full course of the infection ends up dying because they are burned from the inside out. It kills you."

Harry looked at her for a moment, then it made sense to him.

"So they did this as a…precaution? In case I got away, this would kill me for them?"

"That would be my guess…"Hermione said. "But it isn't burning you, so do you see why I have to bring this up with Dumbledore? He might know of a case where this happened…or even some other explanation entirely!" She looked into his eyes, silently pleading with him. Finally, he nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

They set off quickly towards Dumbledore's office.

They ran past the statue and up to the office quickly, to find a completely full room. It appeared every instructor in the school was here for a meeting of some sort. Some of them gave disapproving looks to Harry and Hermione, while others just looked at them confused. Snape was looking particularly angry, but didn't say anything. Dumbledore stood up from his desk and came around to them, he didn't look angry, but he wasn't smiling either.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, you've interrupted our meeting. Is there something you need, or can this wait?" He had steered them almost completely back across the room now, next to the door.

"No it can't!" Harry said urgently, not wanting to say anything in front of the other instructors, staring at him.

"Well, what is the problem?" Dumbledore asked very seriously.

Harry looked at Hermione for help, and she understood his meaning. She raised her hand with the Pyromus on it and held it up for Dumbledore to look at. He looked at it closely, then quickly back to Hermione, recognizing what it was immediately. She nodded at him, then pointed at Harry.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Dumbledore said turning to the instructors, "but something has come up that I must give see to immediately. I will let you know when we can meet again. Minerva, Remus and Severus, I would like the three of you to stay, please."

All of the instructors started towards the door, murmuring to each other, but no one seemed too upset by the sudden change of plans. When they had all gone, Dumbledore turned to Harry and Hermione again.

"Please come sit and explain how this happened," he said urgently.

"What's going on?" Lupin asked.

"I might've been infected with Pyromus," Harry answered him as he took his seat. All three of them looked at him with wide eyes, even Snape.

"But, how?" McGonagall asked, "We don't keep any in the school."

"Someone could have brought it here," Snape said.

"What…one of the students?" Lupin asked.

"No, one of the Zlam," Hermione spoke up. They all looked at her as she explained everything she had found out up to this point, and also what she couldn't figure out about the burning sensation.

"Why didn't you tell us how you were feeling, Harry?" Lupin asked looking very concerned.

"How was I supposed to know this was the reason?" Harry asked quickly. "I thought it was stress…or something…"

"But why isn't it affecting him normally?" Snape asked, looking at Dumbledore.

"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here," Harry said curtly. Snape turned and glared at him, and Harry returned it.

"You want to watch yourself…" Snape started quietly.

"I don't know," Dumbledore interrupted. Snape pulled his gaze away from Harry to listen, but still looked absolutely infuriated. "If I had to guess I would say it must have something to do with the knowledge, but it is only a guess."

"There's no possibility it could be anything else?" Lupin asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Dumbledore said, then looked at Harry. "So you can't remember anything from when Mensok was coming towards you until after he was already there? He didn't have anything in his hands at all?"

"If he did I didn't see it. All I remember is him heading towards me, and I didn't move. I don't know why, it was like the thought just never occurred to me. The next thing I knew he was there…my hands were tied…I don't remember him having anything in his hands at all, no wand, no powder or anything to hold powder in…not even a rope."

"But he could have done anything in the time you can't remember," Lupin spoke up. "We don't even know how long that was. It might've felt like a second, and been several minutes."

"What I want to know is what do we do about it?" Harry asked loudly, feeling frustrated and trying to control his temper, again. "I agree we need to figure out what happened, but first…how do we get rid of it? Is there a cure?"

Harry looked carefully at each professor's face, waiting for someone to answer, then looked at Hermione. She looked back at him and nodded, but there was something in her expression that made him think there was a problem.

"Yes," Dumbledore said at last. "There is a cure for Pyromus, one which Professor Snape could easily make for you, but I don't know if it is safe."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Harry asked.

"Because you aren't feeling the heat that normally accompanies the anger. The cure acts similar to that of a freezing charm, only magnified tremendously. It extinguishes the powder, making it completely ineffective. The problem is without the heat, you could freeze to death; the cure might kill you faster than the infection."

Harry thought about this for a moment, then spoke again.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's better than letting it get to the point where I want to kill one of you."

"Harry we can't decide this that way, we have to consider our options," Lupin said.

"What do you mean we? This is my life, and right now it seems a lot of people want it ended. If I'm really going to get so angry that I try to…to kill…then I'd rather be dead, because as I'm sure you know I've just been taught all about killing…" Harry trailed off glaring at Dumbledore. He turned away from everyone for a minute shaking his head. It was getting harder and harder to control his temper.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall yelled furiously and stood up quickly.

"Calm down Minerva," Dumbledore said before she could say anything else. "We know why Harry's acting like this, so yelling at him won't help the situation any. In fact it will only make things worse." He walked across the room to where Harry was standing. "We will try the potion," he said.

"What?" Lupin exclaimed standing up. "It'll kill him!"

"And," Dumbledore continued giving Lupin a pointed look, "we will also use a warmth charm, to help your body to keep functioning while the cure takes affect."

"Will that be strong enough?" Hermione asked, her face etched with worry.

"I can only hope. But this is the only cure for Pyromus, and if we don't act soon, it will be too late," Dumbledore said, then turned to Snape. "Severus I would like you to get started on that straight away, if you need anything let me know." Snape nodded and got up from his seat. He walked past everyone silently and left the office. Dumbledore turned to Harry and Hermione.

"I want you both to be back here in three hours. Professor Snape will be done by then and I think we should do this as soon as possible. Do you agree?"

Harry was a bit taken back that Dumbledore had even asked this and felt his stomach knotting from worry, but gave him a nod, as did Hermione.

"Very good. I will see you then," Dumbledore said and turned back to the others. Harry and Hermione left the office quietly, heading back towards the great hall.

When they walked in they found the great hall was mostly empty, the few people there were finishing dinner. Ron, Ginny and Cho were no longer there; so Harry and Hermione sat down to eat. Neither of them touched their food much though, as they really didn't have much of an appetite. As they were getting up to leave, Harry heard a voice behind him.

"Now I don't think your girlfriend would be happy that you're cheating on her…and with a mudblood, too."

Harry spun around to see Draco Malfoy standing behind him, sneering.

"This is not a good time, Malfoy," he said through clenched teeth. Of all the things that could happen right now, he didn't need Malfoy to be instigating him.

"Harry, let's go. Now," Hermione said fiercely, looking very scared.

"Yeah, better listen to the mudblood Potter. Don't want to be caught by your girlfriend, do you?"

"If you don't shut up you're going to wish you had your two bodyguards with you."

"They aren't my bodyguards," Malfoy spat. "And I can handle myself! I could take you!"

"Is that a challenge?" Harry asked in an icy voice, menacingly stepping towards Malfoy, who was now looking warily at Harry. But he couldn't stop himself from giving his next answer.

"Yes. I challenge you to a duel," he said evenly.

"It's time to go Harry," Hermione cut in suddenly. She had come around to his side of the table and grabbed him by the arm. Harry looked at her infuriated for a moment, but she held his gaze until he realized what he was doing and lowered his eyes. He looked back at Malfoy.

"Some other time," he said quietly then stepped past him and started towards the doorway.

"I knew you were a coward! Scared to face me, are you?" Malfoy called after him. Hermione could see Harry getting ready to turn around again and she tightened her grip on his arm and began walking faster. They reached the door just as Ron was walking in.

"What's going on?" he asked seeing their faces.

"I'll tell you when we're away from here," Hermione answered, still holding Harry. Ron looked at them curiously but followed them as they walked out the door and down the hall.

"Where's Cho?" Harry asked Ron after a minute.

"She's in the library with Ginny," Ron said. "Where did you guys go, anyway? You were gone for so long."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"I'll tell you when we're with the others," Harry said. "How long do we have Hermione?"

"A little more than two hours," she replied.

Ron looked back and forth between them, but stayed silent. He knew they'd tell him soon enough. When they walked into the library Ron lead them to where Cho and Ginny were sitting.

"Harry," Cho said standing up as they walked over. "What happened?"

Harry walked over to her and pulled her close, just holding her for a moment. When he pulled back, she was looked at him with concern.

"Let's sit down back here," Harry said pulling her with him as he walked. "Back where not many people are sitting." They went to the furthest table in the library so they wouldn't be overheard. When they were all sitting, Harry and Hermione told them everything and there was only one hour left.

"But…why do we have to do this now?" Cho asked. "Can't we wait and try to come up with something better than a warmth charm? What if it doesn't work?"

"The problem…I think…is that the infection isn't working like it normally would, and it appears that it's spreading faster than any case that's been recorded," Hermione said. "Because of this we don't know how much time there is, until it's in full affect."

"You could die…" Cho said looking Harry in the eyes.

"If I don't do this, someone else could," Harry answered her. "I don't want to be responsible for someone else's death."

"Maybe you'd have control over it though…I mean if it isn't affecting you normally…" she began again.

"No. I have enough trouble controlling my temper right now, without the desire to hurt someone, well except for Malfoy in the great hall a while ago. That was the first time I wanted to…inflict pain…"

"Yeah…well, that doesn't mean anything. Who hasn't wanted to hurt Malfoy?" Ron asked. Harry couldn't help but laugh at that and smiled at Ron. He realized how nervous he was about what was going to happen. Would he die tonight? At least Voldemort wouldn't get the spell he wanted and the Zlam could have their knowledge back. But he didn't want to die, not yet. There were too many things he wanted to do. He shook these thoughts out of his head though, as they too were beginning to make him bitter and angry.

"I want all of you to come tonight," Harry said to his friends. "I'd feel better with you there."

"I was coming anyway," Ron said smiling at him.

"Same here," Cho said. Ginny and Hermione just smiled and nodded.

"Well…shall we head up then?" he asked, standing. They all got up with him and left the library in a group, heading towards Dumbledore's office. Harry held Cho's arm as they walked, hoping this wouldn't be his last trip there.

When they walked into the office, everyone was there already.

"Hello," Dumbledore said looking at the group of them. "Thank you for being on time, Harry. Are you ready?"

"No. But let's do it anyway," Harry said honestly. He walked over to where Dumbledore was standing with Snape, waiting for them to tell him what to do.

"Why don't the rest of you head back…" McGonagall started saying to the other students.

"I'd rather they stay," Harry interrupted her. She looked at him for a moment, then at Dumbledore, who nodded.

"They can stay if they want to, as long as you remember we don't know what's going to happen tonight. I need all of you to remain calm and not interfere with anything that happens. Is that clear?" he asked looking pointedly at all of them. Everyone murmured that it was and nodded.

"Mr. Potter," Snape began, "when you drink this you must do it all at once, don't go slowly or it will be more painful." He held a goblet out to Harry that was filled with icy blue liquid; smoke was lightly billowing from it. Harry looked from the potion to Snape and back.

"More painful…?" he asked.

"We don't know what you are going to feel, actually," Dumbledore said. "The fact is, this is normally a painful process and without the heat from the Pyromus to counteract the cold…we don't know what you will feel."

"What about the warmth charm? You're still doing that, right?" Harry asked nervously.

"Yes, of course. We will start as soon as you'd like."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was it, now or never. He looked over his shoulder at his friends, at Cho, who was paler than he'd ever seen her. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, and looked back at Dumbledore.

"Okay, let's do this."

Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lupin all came close to Harry with their wands out, whispering quietly. When the tips of their wands were all glowing red, they touched them together and brought them down to Harry's shoulder. Immediately, Harry felt immense heat spread throughout him. He coughed from the dryness in his throat and tried hard to swallow, then reached up and wiped the sweat that was now running into his eyes.

"I'm sorry for that, but we decided we should do it together to make reinforce the strength of the charm," Dumbledore explained quickly, then turned to Snape. "Severus, the potion."

Snape came over to Harry and handed him the cup. Harry looked at it for only a second, before bringing it to his lips, tipping his head and gulping it down. No sooner had he handed the cup back to Snape, then he felt the heat inside him begin to cool. At first it felt almost refreshing, and he was glad for it, but then it started to get very cold.

Harry shivered and his teeth started to chatter. He went over to the closest chair and sat far back in it. He brought his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, rocking back and forth, trying to feel warm again.

"How long does this take?" Hermione spoke up suddenly, startling everyone in the room except Harry, who didn't seem to even notice she'd spoken.

"There's no way to know," Dumbledore said. "The potion works until the infection is completely extinguished. But without knowing how much of the powder he was given in the first place, we can't tell how long this will take."

Hermione nodded and looked back at Harry full of worry.

"Can't you do the warmth charm again?" Cho asked.

"No. Once the potion has been taken, any interference would completely stop the healing process, and what he's going through now would all be in vain. We would have to do it all over again."

"But…" she began again.

"Miss Chang, I told you when you came that you would need to stay calm. If you can't I need you to leave, because if you interfere it could endanger his life," Dumbledore said abruptly. Cho shut her mouth and stayed silent, though she looked as if she were growing restless with anxiety, and she wasn't the only one. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all seemed much more on edge than any of the professors, but after what Dumbledore had just said, they kept their thoughts to themselves.

Harry was now experiencing muc

h more than just cold. It felt like all the blood in his veins had turned to ice. He could barely move his arms anymore and just stayed huddled in his chair. It was more painful than he could have imagined, and he kept his eyes shut tightly and gritted his teeth, praying it would end soon, one way or another.

He was vaguely aware of the people around him. He could barely see them, or even hear them, but he was under the impression there was shouting going on, these thoughts were wiped from his mind though, when the icy feeling seemed to fill his lungs, and he began to gasp for air. It went on for what felt like eternity and he barely felt someone grab him and pull him forward, when he couldn't stay conscious any longer, and faded into the blackness.

Harry opened his eyes slowly. It was so dark he could barely see anything. He didn't move at first, just stayed where he was, trying to remember what happened. Was he still in Dumbledore's office? If he was then where did everyone go? Was he dead? After a few moments, he realized he was on his back and sat up very slowly. As he did so he felt enormous pressure on his temples, and pulled his hands up to his head. If I'm dead why am I still getting headaches? He thought.

He put his hands down after a few minutes and realized he was in a bed, he instinctively felt around on either side and found his glasses on a table nearby. When he put them on, he looked around, and found he was in a room he hadn't seen before. He was in the room's only bed, and there were many shelves against the walls filled with books. He saw a small table off to his left with several chairs around it, and someone was in one of them, with their head down.

Harry swung his legs to the side of the bed and slowly put them down on the floor, but as soon as he put his weight down, he found this was a bad idea. He could barely support himself and almost collapsed on the floor, he grabbed the side of the bed and started to pull himself back in, his headache returning in full force. The person at the table stirred when they heard Harry's movement and came over quickly to help him. When he was sitting back in the bed again, he looked up at the person next to him.

"Remus," Harry said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "where are we?"

"We're still in Hogwart's, behind Dumbledore's office. This is where Sirius stayed last year before Dumbledore found him his new hiding place."

"Why am I here? What happened?" Harry asked trying hard to remember, the pain in his head had now subsided a bit.

"You're here because we felt it was the safest place for you," Lupin said. "As for what happened, Dumbledore will explain it to you when he arrives. Please try and rest more until then. We almost lost you the other night; we thought you had died. It's very important that you rest as much as possible right now and don't try getting up again. Promise?"

Harry looked at him, feeling beyond confused, but nodded and laid back on the pillows. He didn't realize how exhausted he was until just then, and was asleep within minutes.

The next time Harry woke, there were people in the room with him, talking. He sat up slowly and reached again for his glasses, the voices of the others stopped as they noticed he was awake. When he looked around, he saw Dumbledore, Lupin and Sirius sitting at the table, with someone else.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

"Tytros! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

"Tytros is the reason you are alive, Harry," Dumbledore spoke up. "He arrived just in time."

"No thanks to me," Sirius said in a low voice. He looked at his hands in shame.

"Sirius, you couldn't know, we tried to stop him too," Lupin said.

"What do you mean? I never saw you there…" Harry trailed off.

Tytros stood up and moved closer to Harry, then sat down again.

"I will explain what I can," he said. "I was able to escape from Mensok and the others before we reached our forest…"

"How?" Harry interrupted, looking amazed. "I thought you were dead!"

"I will tell you that some other time, I promise," Tytros answered quietly. "But in any case, I was not in good shape to say the least. I took shelter in different wooded areas, moving from place to place so as not to be captured again. When I was finally well enough I came back here, that was two nights ago."

"The night I took the potion?" Harry asked, not sure what day it was. Tytros nodded.

"When I arrived, I started looking for you, not letting anyone see me, of course, to let you know I was alive and that I was back, but I could not find you in any of the places I had always seen you. So I decided to try your headmaster's office. On the way, I passed your godfather, Sirius Black, and caught some of his thoughts as I went by…"

"Caught some of his thoughts?" Harry asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

Tytros looked at Harry for a moment, as if deciding how to explain.

"Can the Zlam read minds?" Harry asked, remembering how Mensok had known what he was thinking the night they almost caught him.

"Not exactly," Tytros said. "We can hear them, but only if you are thinking about something strongly. Like if you think something is very important, or if it shocks you. Thoughts that seem to scream out at you, above all other ones; they literally scream out to us, if we open ourselves to it."

"How do you open yourself to it?" Harry asked.

"You wouldn't understand. Just know that it is something any Zlam can do, when they choose. The other night I chose to in case anyone's thoughts would tell me where you were. When I passed by Sirius Black, that is exactly what happened."

Harry looked at Sirius then, who was still looking at his hands, then back to Tytros, nodding for him to continue.

"I heard that you had been infected with Pyromus, and that you were being given the cure, but I knew immediately it wouldn't work correctly, so I decided to show myself to try and find out more. I would have waited until I got to the office, but I thought it would be better to try and talk to one wizard then many. I knew they would never recognize me."

"I'm so sorry," Sirius said from across the room.

"You did not know," Tytros said simply, then turned to Harry. "Your godfather knew from the first that I was a Zlam, though he didn't realize I was here to help you. He had his wand out as he walked so was prepared, and when I showed myself, he used what you call the body bind on me, and I was unable to tell him why I was there."

"Luckily, I couldn't bring him anywhere as I couldn't let anyone see me," Sirius spoke up suddenly. "Otherwise…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"He brought me exactly where I was heading to begin with, and I saw you were there, and had already taken the potion. I knew there wasn't much time, by looking at you and thankfully, your magic doesn't always work the same on Zlam as it does on humans, so by the time we arrived, the curse was close to wearing off."

"When I brought him into the room, I left him near the door and went over to Professor Dumbledore, to tell him I had found a Zlam in the school," Sirius said. "No one saw him right away."

"I was able to move again less than a minute after we arrived," Tytros continued. "I came into the room and immediately headed over towards you. The younger girl with the red hair was quite frightened to see me, and began screaming, and your professors realized I was free before I was able to get to you. Naturally, they too tried to stop me."

"Tytros was ready for us to try and stop him, though," Lupin spoke up. "Professor Dumbledore was the only one who was successful at raising his wand. He stopped Tytros where he was standing."

"I had intended to push him backwards," Dumbledore said, smiling a little, "but was unable to. Zlam are very powerful indeed," he continued on, looking at Tytros, "you were able to make four fully trained wizards unable to even move their wands, and my magic only barely worked on you. I believe in fact, that it wouldn't have even phased you, had you not been using much of your energy on the others."

"While this was going on, Ron, Hermione and Cho were shouting at both of them to stop, and Hermione finally got it through that this was Tytros," Sirius added.

"I felt Professor Dumbledore let up instantly," Tytros continued, "and I in turn let go of my hold on all of your instructors. By the time I reached you, you were no longer even breathing, as the potion had frozen your lungs."

Harry who had been listening intently to every word spoken up to this point felt like he had been slapped in the face. His jaw dropped as he stared at Tytros in amazement.

"I was dead?" he asked.

"Not dead, just not breathing," Tytros answered. "The coldness had not yet stopped your heart, thankfully, and I was able to reverse its effects before it was too late."

"How…?" Harry asked.

"I merged with you," he answered, and seeing Harry's confused look, quickly continued. "When Corfay transferred the knowledge to you, do you remember what he did?"

"He…um…grabbed my arms…" Harry said, feeling nauseas from what Tytros was telling him. "It looked like electricity was running through him…"

"What I did the other night would have looked similar to that. Zlam are able to transfer many things back and forth to each other, thoughts, feelings, and energy. I gave you my energy last night, when this happens, a part of me goes into you, nothing physical or tangible, but it's there just the same. I took much of the warmth from myself, and put it into you."

"But, why would that work, and not another warmth charm?" Harry asked.

"Because the reason you never felt the heat in the first place, is because of the knowledge you are carrying. You may not realize it, but it has changed you to some extent. Again, not in any tangible way, but the infection worked through you as it would have if you were a Zlam. That's why I knew it was urgent that I get to you immediately, as you would have died otherwise. I did what I would have done for one of my own kind and as I expected, it worked as if you were one."

Harry just looked at Tytros, dumbfounded. He had saved his life twice now, and Harry didn't know how he could repay that. Finally he found his voice again.

"Thank you," he said weakly. "If there's anything you need from me…ever…" Harry started quickly but stopped when Tytros just shook his head.

"I need no retribution for this, I did what I felt I had to, nothing more."

Harry privately disagreed with him, and felt he would have to find some way to make it up to him, but nodded for the time being, then another thought occurred to him.

"Why am I here, in this room I mean? Why not the hospital wing?"

"That was somewhat Tytros' idea," Sirius said. "He suggested we put you someplace that not many people know of because of how easy it is for Zlam to get in."

"He also has been checking in on you regularly, making sure you were okay," Lupin said, looking gratefully at Tytros, who didn't say anything. Harry was about to ask another question, when Dumbledore spoke.

"Now I want you to get rest, if you are well enough, you can leave here tomorrow and go back to your tower," Dumbledore said. "We will all be up to check on you throughout the rest of today."

Harry looked at him and nodded, he wanted to talk to Tytros some more about everything that had happened to him the night he was taken, but decided it could wait for the moment. He watched as all of them filed out of the room, then settled back to think over everything he had just been told.

The next day, Harry was able to go back to his tower. His strength had returned faster than he thought it would have judging by the fact that he couldn't even stand the day before. He was a little disappointed that Tytros had not come to see him again, and he didn't know how to find him. When he asked Dumbledore if he knew where Tytros was, he was told he would be 'around.' Harry wasn't happy with this answer, but didn't push the matter.

He was up early the next morning so when he returned to his dorm, everyone was just getting out of bed.

"Harry," Ron yawned. "You're back. I didn't think you would be so soon."

"Neither did I but Dumbledore said if I felt well enough that I could come back, so here I am. Did I miss much?"

"No. Nothing that you can't catch up on," he answered. Then he opened his mouth to speak again, but shut it quickly.

"What?" Harry asked, noticing this.

"Did…did they tell you, what happened?" Ron asked cautiously.

Harry nodded.

"It was so scary, we thought you…"

"I know. They told me everything. It's a good thing Tytros showed up."

"So you talked to him to then? Did he say how he escaped?"

"No. I asked him but he wanted to talk about the other night first. Then when I tried to talk to him again, they all wanted me to rest. I swear I spend more time asleep then I do anything else. Anyway, I couldn't find him anywhere today."

"Oh," Ron said, looking as disappointed as Harry felt. He really wanted to hear what had happened, but had no choice but to wait.

The two of them got ready and went down to the great hall where they found Hermione, Ginny and Cho. They were all surprised just as Ron had been about Harry being back so soon, and talked a little more about the other night, but not much. When it was time for them to head off to classes for the day they stood up and left the great hall together, but Cho pulled Harry aside in the hallway.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said quietly. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it, you were so…pale…and then you started gasping for air and then you just…stopped. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen," she said. Harry looked at her, and saw she was close to tears.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm alive and well again, see?" he said smiling at her.

"I know, I know. It's just…I've never experienced a feeling like this before…"

Harry smiled at her, and pulled her close to him.

"I feel the same way about you," he whispered to her.

When she pulled away from him they just looked at each other, in silence, but he could see she was smiling a little now. She leaned forward and they kissed briefly.

"I have to go…" she said quietly.

"Yeah…I better too."

They looked at each other a moment more, before heading off down separate halls, towards their classes.

As the weeks went on, Harry kept a constant lookout for Tytros, but was never able to find him. He even checked the Marauder's Map occasionally, but his name never appeared. He didn't know if this meant that Tytros was not on the school grounds, or if for some reason he just wasn't showing up. Finally he let it go, and figured Tytros would find him when he needed to speak to him, and he could ask his questions then.

By the time the third week of April had come around, he was still in his after class sessions with Lupin, but it seemed this would take the longest. They had been meeting for two weeks, because of the situation with the Pyromus he didn't have any sessions until the week after. But after two weeks it was apparent that this would take longer than any of the others. Lupin and he had spent all their time so far, going over the most dangerous creatures known to the wizarding world. They were supposed to start with dueling, but after thinking about it, Lupin had decided this would be better, as one dangerous creature had already almost killed Harry earlier in the year.

When he left his Friday session, after having learned about Kelpies and the best way to defeat them, by using a placement charm, he was anxious for the weekend to begin. He went back to his tower and sat down with his friends.

"Did you see Tytros today?" Ron asked anxiously.

"No, not today. I really wish he would show up soon, I hope nothing happened to him."

"I'm sure he's fine," Hermione said, matter of factly.

"I hope so," Harry said looking absentmindedly towards the window. He stood up suddenly. "I'm gonna check the map again."

"You've checked it a dozen times though, you never see him on it," Hermione said sounding exasperated.

"Well then it won't hurt to look again now will it?" Harry said, then turned and headed towards the stairs.

"Wait for me!" Ron said as he stood up and trotted after Harry, leaving Hermione behind shaking her head.

When they got upstairs, Harry pulled out the map and turned it on, using his wand. He spread it out on his bed and they both began searching for Tytros' name.

"No," Ron sighed after a moment, "Don't see him, maybe we should ask Dumbledore again?" he said looking at Harry, but he didn't answer. "Hello? Harry!" Ron said loudly.

"Look," Harry said pointing.

Ron looked at the map where Harry was pointing and inhaled quickly. Draco Malfoy was roaming the halls, and it looked like he was heading for his secret room. The two of them looked at each other, but didn't need to speak, Harry put the map in one pocket and the invisibility cloak in his other one. The two of them headed downstairs quickly, anxious to see what Malfoy was up to.

They came downstairs and headed straight for the portrait hole, Ron stepped through first and Harry was just about to when someone grabbed his arm.

"Where are you two going?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Malfoy's on his way back to the storage room, probably to work on the potion. We're going to see what we can find out," Harry answered her.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? You remember what happened last time you two went there?"

"We have the Marauder's Map this time, Wormtail, or anyone else for that matter, won't be able to sneak up on us. Besides that, whatever Malfoy is working on he must be close to finishing it. He said it would be done by the beginning of May, so there isn't much time."

"So let's go tell Dumbledore, that way he gets caught making the potion, and you aren't breaking any rules," Hermione said.

"But he still has my parents' book! He'll just use that to blame everything on Ginny!" Ron exclaimed.

"Not if he's caught working on it!" Hermione said, sounding frustrated.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. We're gonna see if we can find out anymore about what he's working on, if it looks like he's going to be there for a while, we'll go tell Dumbledore. Maybe we can even get the book back, if he's brought it with him," Harry said.

Hermione looked at him uncertainly, but nodded. She watched as Harry and Ron slipped the invisibility cloak over their heads, before stepping back into the common room.


	5. Chapter 5

Since the storage closet was not far from the Gryffindor tower, it was only a few minutes before they had nearly reached it. Harry kept checking the map to see if anyone was headed their way, but just as they were about to turn the corner into the last hallway, he put up his arm signaling to stop moving. Ron glanced at the map and saw why, Malfoy had been in the storage room since they left their tower, but now he had just stepped out, and was headed towards the hall they were in.

Seconds later, they watched him poke his head out into the hall, looking in either direction to make sure no one was around, before moving into full view and heading in the direction that would take him back to the dungeon area. They could see he was carrying a large box, filled with bottles. It appeared, from what they could see, that the liquid in all of the bottles was the same pinkish-orange color.

As soon as he had moved far enough away, Harry and Ron turned the corner and went straight to the storage room. They saw the cauldron that Malfoy had been using to make the potion, and it was all but empty, leaving just a few drops in the very bottom.

"How can he be done already?" Ron asked as they pulled the cloak off.

"Not a clue," Harry answered, looking around the room quickly. He found some old bottles on one of the shelves and grabbed the smallest one. "I'm taking the end of this with us," he said, scooping up the tiny bit of potion still in the cauldron.

"Good idea," Ron said glancing around the room. Harry looked up when he heard Ron inhale sharply. "I can't believe it, he left it!"

"What?" Harry asked, capping the bottle. Ron had bent down to pick something up from the floor, when he turned around he was holding a book.

"My parents' book! But, why?" Ron asked looking elated and confused all at once.

"Because he's finished," Harry answered. "So he left that for whoever found this place. That way Ginny still gets blamed."

"Well that's not going to happen, I say we tell Dumbledore about this place now, so Malfoy gets blamed."

"But he won't. If we say anything now, he'll get away with it."

"How?"

"If I were a professor and I came across this room, I would immediately assume, having nothing else to go on, that a Gryffindor student was responsible. No one's going to think another student, especially one who's dorm is in the dungeon area, came all the way here to make this potion. The possibility that they could get caught going back and forth would be enough reason not to."

"But we know he did! We can tell them…"

"And they'd want to know why we didn't tell them sooner. We have to wait until we have something more solid to prove it was Malfoy. That's why I'm hoping we can use this," Harry said holding up the bottle in his hand, "to figure out what he made, and who he's going to use it on. With any luck we can stop him before then."

Ron sighed and nodded, realizing Harry was right. They slid the invisibility cloak on once more, and headed back for their tower.

Hermione rushed over to the portrait hole when she saw Harry and Ron come through. They had taken the cloak off just before entering so as not to attract attention.

"What happened? You're back a lot faster than I thought you'd be," she said.

"Malfoy finished whatever he was working on," Harry said.

"But he left this!" Ron put in holding the book up and smiling widely.

"He finished? Then he left this to make sure Ginny was blamed," Hermione said.

"That's what I thought too, but I got this," Harry said holding up the small bottle. "Now we just have to figure out what it is."

"How do we do that without drinking it?" Ron asked, looking warily at the potion.

"Well, we could go to the library and start doing research," Hermione said, looking a bit too happy about this, "find out what potions have this coloring and consistency."

"Why don't we just use the book?" Harry said looking back and forth between the two of them and grabbing the book from Ron. He laughed as they followed him over near the fire where they all sat down.

"Hey guys," Ginny said coming over to them.

"Guess what we've got?" Ron asked, smiling widely. Ginny looked at him questioningly for a minute.

"What?"

"Ta-da!" he said holding the book out in front of him. Ginny's face broke into a big smile when she saw it and she started laughing with relief.

"How?" she asked.

"Ron and I found it earlier tonight," Harry explained. "Malfoy left it in the room where he was working on the potion. It was supposed to point anyone that finds the cauldron and empty potion bottles to you, so he wouldn't take any blame."

Ginny scowled when she heard this.

"That rat! He said he would give it back when he was done!"

"And you believed him?" Ron asked in amazement.

"Well, not really…" Ginny said sheepishly.

"Ginny, we need you to show us what potion you were talking about when Malfoy overheard you. It's probably best to start looking with that one," Hermione said.

"Why?" she asked.

Harry told her about Malfoy having finished it, and showed her what he had taken from the bottom of the cauldron.

"So we have to figure out what he actually made," he finished.

Ginny nodded at him, then took the book and started flipping through the pages.

"Here," Ginny said finally, pointing to the book. Hermione looked over her shoulder and then began reading. After a few minutes she looked up.

"Can I see the potion, Harry?" she asked. He handed it to her and she pulled the cork out. She looked down into the bottle then back up at everyone.

"I need a piece of parchment or something to pour a bit of this on, so I can get a better look."

Ron stood and ran upstairs, returning a few moments later with a few sheets. Hermione grabbed them and tipped the bottle, letting just a drop out onto the parchment. The bead of liquid remained there, not seeping in, moving slightly each time Hermione tipped the parchment. She watched it for a minute, then picked up the bottle again, brought it up under her nose, sniffed quickly and put it down.

"Well, as far as I can tell, it's the right color, consistency and scent. It has to be a memory enhancer potion."

"That's it?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"It would seem so," Hermione said.

"So all of this just so he could cheat?" Ron asked.

"He and whoever else was in on it with him," Harry said. He started to think back to the conversation Lupin and Snape had been having when they didn't know he was there. And what Snape said could happen if he took the potion while he had the knowledge, but he shook the thought out of his head. There was no way Malfoy could know about the knowledge and if he did it would be because of his father. If Lucius was telling his son that much though, then Malfoy must know that Voldemort wanted him alive, so he was sure the potion couldn't be for him.

"I guess there's nothing we can do except be on the lookout then," Ron said.

"For now, anyway," Hermione said, obviously disappointed that they had nothing to pin Malfoy with right then.

"Let's not worry about it now, he said that they would be done by the beginning of May and that they'd still have time left. Now that he's done earlier than that, we have more time to find out what he's up to," Harry said.

"And why he finished early," Hermione added.

As time passed, Harry was forced to concentrate on his sessions above all else. Lupin had gone through both offensive and defensive points of dueling with him, and by the time May was halfway over, he felt much more comfortable about possibly being in a situation where he might have to duel. But it also meant he would now have to move on to his last set of sessions, with Snape.

Harry had been dreading one on one classes with Snape from the first time Dumbledore had told him who would be doing the sessions. At least he couldn't take points away from him in these. But points or no points, Harry always felt like a giant weight was lifted from his shoulders at the end of each session.

Then one day, as he was putting away the ingredients they had used for the class, Harry spotted something on a nearby table. It was the book that Snape kept all of his student's marks in. Normally he wouldn't have given it a second glance, but something caught his eye. For the past three weeks, several Slytherin students, including Draco Malfoy, had steadily rising marks. Harry had a sudden idea and looked over his shoulder at Snape.

"So, did you ever find who stole those ingredients from you a few months ago?"

Snape just looked at him icily.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seemed concerned about it the night I…overheard what you were saying to Professor Lupin, and I was just thinking about it again."

"That's none of your business I'm afraid," Snape said coldly. Harry fought the urge to say that it was his business, as Snape had been directly accusing him that night. But he knew that wouldn't help him with what he was trying to do, so instead tried a different approach.

"Professor Lupin told me about what was stolen from you, said it could make a sort of…memory enhancer."

"That's right, it could," Snape said, eyeing Harry suspiciously. "That wouldn't be anything you'd be interested in taking now, would it?"

"No. I don't like to cheat. Plus he told me what could happen if I drank that potion while I had the knowledge. I'm not in a rush to die, no matter what you might think."

"Yes, but you didn't know about what the potion could do to you when you…before it was stolen," Snape said, correcting himself.

"I didn't steal it," Harry said in a low voice. "But I should think if the person who did was using it for a memory enhancer, and they're a student, then it'd be easy to find them."

"Really?" Snape said rolling his eyes. "By all means Mr. Potter, enlighten me."

"Well whatever the reason they may be taking it for, it's going to reflect in their school work. Whether they're good at a subject already or not, they're going to do better because they're going to remember more than they normally would. It's going to happen in all of their classes, I'm sure, so I would check with the other instructors. See which students are doing better in all of your classes and…"

"That's enough Potter," Snape said cutting him off. "Our lesson is done you can leave now.

Harry looked at him for a moment longer. Snape was looking at him with just as much dislike as before, but he could see that he'd gotten through to him, on some level. He probably just didn't want Harry to know about it. He nodded at Snape, grabbed his things, and headed back to his tower as quickly as possible.

Harry got back to his common room and dragged Ron and Hermione to one corner. He told them what he had found and what he said to Snape at the end of his lesson.

"Do you think he'll figure it out?" Ron asked when he'd finished.

"He can be stubborn but he isn't dumb," Hermione said. "I'm sure he will, but I hope he doesn't wait too long to look into it. The fact that Harry told him might cause him to ignore the facts out of spite."

"Well as long as Malfoy and the other Slytherins only used it on themselves, and Ginny or anyone else can't be blamed, then I don't care. Let them do whatever they're doing and leave us out of it," Harry said.

"Maybe we could bring it up with Professor Lupin…or McGonagall," Ron started. "You know, get them to notice their marks…"

"No," Hermione said flatly. "If we point it out to everyone then they're all going to get suspicious of us too. We just have to hope Snape does something about it." They both looked at her and nodded, knowing she was right.

"Well, that's that then," Harry said. "Are you ready for final exams?" he asked changing the subject and grinning.

"Oh shut up you," Ron said rolling his eyes. Harry would still be taking exams, but only to try and prevent any rumors that might start if he didn't. "We can't all have the entire library of magical knowledge in our heads now can we? But I wouldn't mind it for the next couple weeks, anyway…"

"So is that a no?" Harry asked, pushing Ron further.

"I've been studying. Hermione and I have been working together while you and Cho are off doing…whatever…" Ron said defiantly, but smiling anyway.

"Good, they you have time for a game of exploding snap, since you're all prepared already," Harry said.

"Oh yeah…I always have time for that," Ron said standing up. Hermione rolled her eyes and watched them walk away to begin their game, before picking up the book she had been reading, and burying herself in it.

Another week passed without incident and Harry was beginning to wonder if Hermione was right, and Snape was going to ignore the information because he had given it to him. During their after class sessions, Snape would only speak to Harry if it was regarding what they were working on and nothing else. Then on Saturday, when Harry went down to breakfast, he was surprised to see that Draco wasn't at the Slytherin table along with a few other 6th years from that house.

"Hey!" Ron said looking at the Slytherin table.

"I saw," Harry said knowing he had realized the same thing.

"It doesn't mean anything yet," Hermione spoke up. "They could just be sleeping late."

"True, but it is a little weird that so many of them would, plus it's already late. We didn't exactly get up early today," Harry said.

"Well maybe they did, and they've already finished breakfast," she said.

"Oh will you stop!" Ron exclaimed. "You're being such a kill-joy."

"Sor-ry!" she said huffily, "just trying to stop you from getting all excited about something that might not even be happening."

"Well don't," Ron said quietly, but he looked at her apologetically a moment later. "I just want to keep my happy thought, even for just a little while, okay?" he said grinning at her. She tried to continue glaring at him, but couldn't and started giggling.

"Your happy thought?" she said, laughing louder now. Ron turned a little red but didn't say anything; he just looked down and started eating.

"Maybe we could ask?" Ginny asked.

"We could, but anyone that we ask would want to know why we cared where Malfoy was," Harry said.

When they were almost finished eating, Lupin walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"Mind if I sit down?" he asked.

"No, please do," Harry said gesturing to an empty seat.

"I thought you'd want to know, since we have talked about this before," he started in a low voice, "we found who stole the potion ingredients from Snape's office."

"That's great!" Harry said, trying to sound truly surprised, "who?"

"Several 6th year Slytherins. Draco Malfoy being one of them."

"How did you figure it out?" Ron asked, smiling.

"Professor Snape had an idea, actually. We weren't sure what the ingredients had been taken for, and if it was done by a student, or someone else. So to narrow it down, Snape had all the instructors check their mark books, looking for any students that might all of a sudden be doing steadily better. In each case there were five Slytherins that were."

"How smart of Professor Snape," Ron said rolling his eyes. Harry and Hermione glared at him while Ginny stifled a laugh. Lupin looked at them questioningly, but continued.

"Once we had that information, Snape gave the OK to check their dorm. We found several empty bottles of the potion, and a few that were still full."

"I bet Malfoy wasn't happy about that," Harry said.

"Not at all," Lupin said.

"So what's going to happen to them?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah…will they be expelled?" Ron asked, smiling. Lupin gave him a harsh look.

"Mr. Weasley, you wouldn't want a fellow student expelled, would you?" he asked, but then he grinned. "Though I can understand why when it comes to these students in particular. Don't tell anyone I said that," he added quickly.

"To answer your question, no, they won't be expelled. But because they won't be able to take any tests fairly, they will have to take their exams over the summer, if they want to be 7th years next year."

"Summer school! Oh that's too perfect!" Ron laughed, then quickly quieted down with a look from Lupin.

"Please don't spread this around, though I'm sure it will happen anyway. I only told you because of our previous discussion. Okay?"

They all promised. Lupin nodded, and stood up, heading back to the teacher's table.

Cho came over to their table just as Lupin left and they of course told her everything that had just happened.

"That's wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Now at least he can't blame anyone else."

"And they all have to take summer exams!" Ron said, still thrilled about the idea.

"I hope I'm not here again then. The only thing worse than another summer alone would be a summer with a bunch of Slytherins," Harry said, suddenly realizing he had no idea where he'd be staying that summer.

"Oh my gosh, I hadn't even thought of that!" Hermione said. "You can't go back to your uncle's house. Where will Dumbledore have you stay?"

"You could stay with us!" Ron piped up excitedly.

"I'd love to, but I don't think he's going to let me decide," Harry said with a sigh. But now this was gnawing at him and he had to know, he stood up and stepped away from the table. "I'm going up to Dumbledore's office to ask. It's already the end of May so he must have some idea of where I'm going to be staying."

"Want me to come?" Cho asked.

"No, you haven't eaten yet. I'm sure this won't take too long, I'll be right back." He waved at his friends and left the great hall. He'd gotten halfway there when he happened to look down and see the charm around his neck was glowing, bright green. Before he had a chance to act, he felt a hand on his shoulder; he spun around quickly.

"Tytros!" he exclaimed with relief. "You scared me."

"I apologize, it was not my intention," he said.

"No, no. It's okay. I'm just glad it was you and not some other Zlam. Lot of good this thing does me, doesn't tell me you're around until you're right next to me," Harry said holding up the charm Wormtail had given him.

"That's only because I knew you had it, I was able to block its effect until I was too near it."

"Oh…" Harry said, then continued, "How did you know I had it?"

"I saw you wearing it the night I came, when you drank the potion."

"Right, of course…sorry."

"Perfectly alright. You of all people have every right to be suspicious."

"But not of you," Harry said quickly, "You've done nothing except help me."

"I'm only doing what I think is right. I was looking for you actually, to ask you how you're feeling."

"Um…fine, I guess," Harry said, looking at him.

"What I mean is, do you feel any closer to having control of the knowledge?"

"I don't think so…but how would I know?"

"Trust me, you would know."

"I do!" Harry said quickly. He felt horrible and sounding accusatory towards Tytros earlier. "I actually, have a couple questions, now that you're here. If you don't mind?"

Tytros nodded, and waited for Harry to continue.

"When I finally have control over the knowledge, will I be able to transfer it right away?" Harry asked.

"Being able to transfer the knowledge is actually the first thing that will come to you. You will begin to know things about our magic, things that we don't tell any human, but you won't be able to use all of it. This is what Forden was trying to explain to you, the reason the knowledge will kill you is because your mind will be unable to adapt. You as a human cannot force your mind to be something it isn't, even with the knowledge. It will be somewhat of an overload, and your mind will, essentially, stop working."

"And, does that happen…quickly?" Harry asked nervously.

"Two days. From the time you first gain control of the knowledge until the end, it takes 48 hours."

"Well, that's good that is isn't too quickly…" Harry trailed off, then another thought occurred to him. "Will I still be giving the knowledge to you?"

"Yes, I will take it back to my people, then I will sleep, until our new keeper is ready."

"They aren't really going to kill you, right?"

"That is the way it has to be."

"But…"

"Do not argue. You can do nothing to change this and I'm prepared for what I must do."

Harry looked at Tytros and felt so much respect for him. He was so brave to be doing all of this, for what he believed in.

"The same as you are," Tytros said.

"What?…"Harry said, confused, then he realized, "oh…" Tytros had read his thoughts. "Sorry, not used to that yet…" then he ducked his head as his face was turning red. He wanted to change the subject quickly. "This can't happen again, can it?"

"What do you mean?" Tytros asked.

"I mean, once I give this to you, even though I really would like to find another way, can I ever get it back…the knowledge I mean…"

"No. Once you transfer the knowledge away from yourself, it can never be given back to you."

"That's a relief," Harry said honestly. "How will I find you? I mean, I've been looking for you for weeks now. If I only have two days to get the knowledge to you when the time comes, and I don't know where you are, then…"

"I will find you," Tytros interrupted. "Don't worry if you don't see me, because I can always find you."

Harry found this strangely comforting and nodded at him. He stayed silent for a moment, then thought of another question.

"Do you know anything about the spell Voldemort wants from the knowledge?"

"It's something you should never have to witness, much less have to perform," Tytros said quietly.

"But if it's magic that I'd be able to perform, why doesn't he already know it? I mean you said I couldn't adapt to your magic. So if human's can do this, why is it only in your knowledge and not in records that older wizards must've kept?"

"Not everything that the knowledge gives you access to will be incomprehensible to you. The only things you won't understand are the things involving mind control, and thought catching. Spells and curses that can be done without that you can do. However using any of this magic will only serve to end your life faster."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Let's say, just hypothetically, that Voldemort is able to get to you when you have control of the knowledge. Now you have two days to get rid of it before it kills you, but if he has you perform the spell he is looking for, it would be too much of a strain on you. You'd never last the two days, I'd be surprised if you lasted much past performing the spell."

"That's comforting," Harry said weakly.

"Don't think about it then, worry about your lessons and gaining control. As soon as it happens, I will find you."

Harry just stared ahead of him, going over all of this information in his head. He hoped there wasn't too much time left before he was able to make the transfer, but at the same time he dreaded thinking about what would happen to Tytros when he did. He shook his thoughts away, though, as they had arrived at the statue to get into Dumbledore's office. Harry had almost forgot he had originally set out to find out where he'd be staying over the summer.

"I'm going to leave you now, but don't worry, I'll be around if you need me."

Harry nodded and turned towards the statue, when a thought occurred to him.

"There's one more thing I wanted to ask you…" he started as he turned back around, but no one was there. Tytros had gone already. He sighed and turned back to the statue. He still hadn't found out how Tytros had escaped from Mensok and the other Zlam, but he would obviously have to wait.

Harry started up the stairs to Dumbledore's office, hearing his voice before he saw him. When he came fully into the office he saw that Dumbledore was near the fireplace, and Mr. Weasley's head was in the fire. He cleared his throat, not wanting then to think he was eavesdropping. They both looked at him.

"Hello Harry," Mr. Weasley said pleasantly. Harry still felt awkward talking to anyone when it was just their head, but smiled nonetheless.

"Hello."

"Thank you for everything Arthur," Dumbledore said turning back to the fire. "I'll be in touch."

Harry watched as Mr. Weasley nodded and his head disappeared, then Dumbledore turned to him.

"Yes Harry," he said smiling.

"Sorry to disturb you," Harry said quickly. "I didn't realize…"

"Think nothing of it, we were finished when you arrived. Is there something bothering you?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know if this should be bothering me or not, but I was wondering, since it's close to the end of the school year and all, where am I going to stay this summer?"

Dumbledore looked at him for a moment before answering.

"At this time, the only safe place is here. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's the only answer I have for you."

Harry sighed inwardly; it wasn't that he didn't like Hogwart's. It was certainly better than the Dursley's, but it could get so boring with no one around. And if Malfoy and several of his friends would be there part of the summer, it would be even worse.

"What about, Sirius'? He seems to be safe in the house he's in."

"I already explained why you couldn't stay with him when we were there last summer. If we set it up so that the protections that you had while with your relatives are moved to Sirius' house, the ministry will know about it. They will find him easier. If we do not, then Voldemort may be led straight to you. We can't take the risk, as it is unnecessary while you can stay here. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded.

"I do…it's just, I was just hoping, since I heard that some Slytherins were going to have to take exams here over the summer, that I wouldn't have to…you know…be around them."

"Heard about that, did you?" Dumbledore asked with a smile. "Well don't worry too much about it, they won't be here for the entire summer and they won't have the freedom to do things that they can during the school year either. It is after all, a punishment for them."

Harry smiled again at the thought of Draco having to spend part of his summer taking exams, then realized Dumbledore was looking at him, as if he were waiting for him.

"Well," Harry said quickly, "That was it, that's the reason I came, so I'll just let you get back to what you were doing," he said stepping backwards. He gave a small wave at Dumbledore who nodded in return, before heading downstairs and back towards the great hall.

By the end of May, Harry had completed all of his sessions with Snape, but still didn't feel the change he assumed would happen when he gained control of the knowledge. There was a week left until final exams, so he spent much of his after class time helping his friends study. He had only seen Malfoy at mealtimes lately, as he and the other Slytherins weren't allowed to attend classes until the effects of the potion wore off.

"Think he knows you told on him?" Ron asked Harry at lunch one day, after seeing how Malfoy was glaring at him in hatred. Harry glanced up at Malfoy, then turned to Ron.

"I don't care if he knows, he deserved it. What I do care about is that they have detention every night for the rest of the year and they've lost their house so many points that they can't possibly get the cup."

Ron smiled to himself. Hearing about Malfoy in trouble, no matter how many times, never failed to make him happy.

"I think you're enjoying this a little too much," Hermione said looking at Ron from across the table.

"I can't help it…and it's nothing compared to how much you enjoy studying. That's too much."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head, then turned to Harry.

"He does have a point though, Harry. Malfoy looks very angry with you."

"Well does he ever not?" Harry asked.

"But look at him," Hermione persisted. "I think he does know."

Harry sighed.

"Let's say he does. What can he do about it? He's not in class during the day and he has detention at night."

"Yeah," Ron put in, laughing. "Quality time with Filch every night, no way he's getting out of that."

Hermione just looked back and forth between the two of them then sighed and went back to eating.

Later on that night, they were all in the library, studying for what Harry felt must've been the millionth time that week.

"Either of you feel like taking a break?" he asked hopefully.

"Harry," Hermione began. "We only have two days left before exams start, we can't take breaks now! Besides, we've only been here an hour."

Ron remained silent and looked miserably at Harry showing he truly would love to take a break, but when Hermione looked at him, he just grinned and nodded at her. Harry laughed to himself when he saw this, he could remember a time when Ron never would have done something just because Hermione wanted him to. Especially if that something was studying.

"Well," he said standing up, "I'm going to take a break."

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"Not sure. Maybe back upstairs, anywhere that's not a library, really," he said smiling. Ron just glared at him and gave a small wave as Harry turned and left them to study.

When Harry started walking he really didn't know where he was headed. He just needed to be away from all the studying, it was giving him a headache. He thought about going to the hospital wing to ask Madam Pomfrey if there was anything she could give him, but decided it wasn't too bad, and set off for the Gryffindor tower instead. He'd gotten only a short distance however, when he noticed a light reflecting off the walls as he walked. He glanced down to see the charm around his neck was glowing again.

Harry looked all around him, hoping to see Tytros, but instead saw that he was alone. He knew a Zlam had to be close by, but he didn't know how close, or in which direction they'd be coming from. He didn't want to take the chance of turning a corner somewhere and running right into one, so he ducked into the nearest classroom and waited.

This is ridiculous, he thought to himself. I'm trying to hide from creatures that can find me without looking. I need to do something.

But the only thing his mind kept coming back to when he tried to think of a way out was using one of the unforgivable curses.

Harry glanced out into the hall, looking in both directions, he thought he heard footsteps coming from his right, but he couldn't be sure. Whatever it was it was still very faint. He came back into the room and leaned against the wall near the door.

That's it, he thought, I'm not going to stand any more of a chance against them in here then I will out there. I might as well try to find them first. He looked down at the charm and saw the light was much brighter than before. If it was working the way Wormtail said it would, that meant the Zlam must be very close now. He took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.

He started to turn right, where he thought he'd heard the footsteps before, but something made him go left instead. Standing less than twenty feet away, were two Zlam, they spotted him instantly.

Harry barely had time to wonder why they kept sending just a few of them, as they could easily overpower anyone here if they were in greater numbers, when an idea came to him suddenly. He drew his wand out as the Zlam started towards him.

"Serpensortia!" he yelled. A large black snake exploded from the tip of his wand. Both Zlam froze, instantly, staring intently at the snake that was raising itself up. Harry did the spell again and when the two snakes were in front of him, he spoke to them.

"Get these two out of the school, in any way necessary. Don't go near anyone else."

The Zlam stared at him in horror, as they heard nothing but hissing coming from Harry. The two snakes lunged at the Zlam causing them to back up a few paces, before turning and taking off down the hall. Harry looked after them, wondering for a moment if they could control the snakes some other way, and yet at the same time, somehow he knew they wouldn't.

He put his hand up as he felt his headache coming back a bit stronger. He knew he should tell Dumbledore right away about what just happened, but he had to do something about the pains in his head.

He began to turn back around and head for the hospital wing, when someone grabbed him roughly from behind. His wand, which he was still holding, was ripped from his hand. He was spun around quickly by whoever had his arms and saw a very familiar face.

"Malfoy!" he exclaimed as Draco stepped closer to him, tapping Harry's wand against his hand. Harry looked to either side of him and saw that Crabbe and Goyle were the ones holding him.

"Potter," Malfoy sneered. "Just the person we were looking for. I'm glad we found you…alone." He smiled wickedly at Harry.

"Won't Filch be looking for you?" he asked.

"He's…taking a nap right now. I'm sure he'll never miss us."

"What did you do to him?" Harry asked quietly. Draco just looked at him as if he were insulted.

"Do you really think I'd do anything harmful?" he asked in hurt tone, before smiling widely, then he looked at Crabbe and Goyle. "Let's go."

He started to walk away and Harry fought to free himself but he wasn't a match for both Crabbe and Goyle. He didn't even think he could take one of them without a wand. Finally, he resigned himself to going with them, for the time being.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Outside."

"What for?"

"Unfinished business."

Harry gave a frustrated sigh.

"Do I have to ask you a million questions? What unfinished business and where outside?" he asked loudly.

"Shut up!" Malfoy hissed, spinning around quickly. He was holding Harry's wand up in front of him, threateningly. He started walking again and everyone was silent for a few moments.

They made it all the way to the school entrance, to Harry's amazement and despair, without running into anyone. What's going on? He thought. If he'd tried to do this without the invisibility cloak he was positive he'd run into Snape or Filch before he made it halfway there. He tried again to free his arms, hoping that they wouldn't be suspecting it, but they were ready for him and he was forced to continue walking. He looked ahead and saw they were heading towards Hagrid's hut.

Sure enough when they were just past the house, Draco stopped and turned to Harry.

"Now," he began, "on to business."

Harry looked at Malfoy, waiting for him to explain. He glanced around and realized they would be blocked from view of the school where they were standing. Malfoy just stood there in silence, so finally Harry spoke.

"What are we doing here? What do you want?"

"We're here for our duel," Malfoy said smiling.

"Our what?" Harry asked.

"I challenged you, and you accepted, don't you remember? I decided we should have it now, before you find some other way to get me and my friends in trouble," he said fiercely.

Harry just looked at him; his headache was pounding now. He did remember Malfoy challenging him the day he drank the potion for the Pyromus.

"So naturally," Malfoy continued, "I have to repay you for that."

"I'm not the one who got you in trouble," Harry said, "You did that yourself by making that potion. I didn't think you were doing so badly, you'd need to cheat."

"I didn't make it to cheat…" Malfoy started angrily, then stopped himself. "It's none of your business anyway, it wasn't from the start so you should've just kept your nose out of it. But you can't ever do that can you? Always have to interfere. You've just been lucky that up to this point everyone confuses your nosiness with bravery. Only this time it won't work out in your favor."

Harry barely heard what he had said; he was just wishing the pressure in his head would go away. Then Malfoy stepped right in front of him and they looked at each other, icily.

"So, what's it gonna be? Are you going to keep your word, and duel? Or are you a chicken?" Malfoy asked, grinning evilly. Harry glared back at him for a moment. He knew he should refuse. Maybe even lie just to get his wand back and then try to get away, but he couldn't. He wouldn't let Malfoy have the chance to call him a coward, and part of him didn't want to leave anyway. He looked to his sides at Crabbe and Goyle before speaking again.

"I don't have a second," Harry said evenly.

"You don't get one," Malfoy answered. "I would think the great Harry Potter wouldn't need one," he added sarcastically.

"Fine," Harry answered quickly.

Malfoy nodded at Crabbe and Goyle who immediately released Harry. He handed over his wand before turning and walking several feet away. Harry watched as Goyle stepped forward and counted.

"One, two, three…Go!"

Malfoy didn't waste any time, he pointed his wand at Harry and yelled.

"Incendia!"

A giant fireball erupted from his wand heading towards Harry, who quickly raised his wand.

"Reflectus Incendia!"

The fireball almost seemed to implode as it flattened into itself, then reformed and headed back at Malfoy, who hit the ground to avoid being hit. The fireball slammed into the ground a few feet behind him and extinguished quickly. He sprang to his feet and glared at Harry, but pointed his wand again.

"Mortis Rigorus Granita!" he shouted.

Harry tried to dodge as a silver flash of light flew from Malfoy's wand, but it clipped his left arm. He looked down to see the flesh on his arm turning to stone, and slowly spreading up towards his shoulder.

"Absorbicus!" he said pointing his wand at his arm, then watched as the stone moved as if in reverse until his arm was normal again. He pointed his wand down to release the energy he'd just absorbed into the ground and saw a small patch of grass turn to stone. Malfoy was using pretty dangerous spells. He knew that he could easily use the same ones, and worse, but he didn't want to cause serious injury to his opponent, who obviously didn't share this point of view. He looked up to see Malfoy raising his wand again, and reacted quickly.

"Osteo Dysplagia!"

A red light shot from the end of his wand slamming into Malfoy's right shoulder. Draco dropped his wand and brought his left hand up, trying to massage the spot he had just been hit, but he was only causing himself more pain, as his shoulder was now dislocated. His right arm hung limply at his side. After a moment he bent down and picked up his wand in his left hand, raising it in front of him.

"Hemocrit Hyponis!"

Icy blue smoke began emitting from Malfoy's wand and moved quickly in Harry's direction. Before he could do anything he was engulfed in the cloud, and he felt his insides go cold. His blood was freezing and he couldn't think through the pain to stop it. He doubled over and tried hard not to concentrate on the icy feeling, but instead on taking steady breaths, as he was starting to hyperventilate.

Then, slowly he began to feel warmth again. He couldn't explain how and he didn't care at the moment, all he knew was it felt like the ice melted and he was able to breathe again. He stood up straight and raised his wand, noticing the shocked look on Malfoy's face before he spoke.

"Morpho Lacertus Wing!"

Harry watched as the light that came from his wand hit exactly on target into Malfoy's left arm, which quickly became a large wing with brilliant green feathers.

"Do you give up?" Harry asked, smiling now. "You can't even hold your wand anymore," he added nodding to where Malfoy's wand was laying on the ground. Malfoy just glared at him, helpless to attack any further, then looked furiously at Crabbe and Goyle.

Goyle raised his wand first, but Harry was ready for this.

"Accio Vox Goyle!" he yelled.

Goyle pointed his wand and tried to shout a curse, but his voice was gone, he stared at Harry in horror, and then turned to Malfoy, who was looking at him in disgust. Crabbe stepped forward next, and pointed his wand.

"Trichophagia!" he called. But Harry reflected it easily; it reversed in mid-air and slammed into Crabbe's face. His tongue immediately began sprouting hair and he started pulling at it fiercely. Harry stood there laughing to himself at the site in front of him. He wished Ron could've seen it because he knew he would've enjoyed it. He shook his head and started to walk towards the three of them, intending to get their wands before restoring them back to normal. The pounding in his head was now at the point of being immensely painful and he knew he would need to go to the hospital wing when he returned.

He was just beginning to wonder if this might be related to the knowledge when a blinding pain shot from his head down his back, causing him to fall to his knees. Now he knew what Tytros meant when he said he'd know it when he felt it. Harry dropped his wand and put his head in his hands, he stayed motionless for a few moments and little by little, the pain began to subside. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw nothing but white for a few seconds, he rubbed at his eyes, trying to force them to readjust. The first thing that began to come into focus was a pair of feet; someone was standing directly in front of him. He began to look up to see who it was when he heard a voice.

"Crucio!"

Harry was utterly consumed by the pain running through him, he already felt weak from what had just happened a few moments ago. He writhed on the ground in agony, screaming, his eyes watering from the pain. When it finally stopped he stayed where he was with his eyes shut firmly, breathing quickly. He rolled onto his side as he began coughing violently and when it finally subsided, he forced himself into a sitting position, and looked around.

A cold shiver ran down his spine as he stared around in shock. Several death eaters and shapeshifters were standing around him, and closest to him, was Lucius Malfoy. He grinned evilly down at Harry, who quickly looked at the ground near him.

"You won't find it down there," Lucius said.

Harry looked up quickly and saw Lucius was holding his wand. He noticed then that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing nearby, all restored back to normal and looking a bit pale. Harry was glad to see that they were at least shocked to see what the Cruciatus Curse could do, then he looked back at Lucius.

"Stand up," he said harshly. Harry moved slowly as his entire body was aching all over, but he didn't want to show them that. He stood up and looked at Lucius defiantly.

"Draco," he said turning to his son, "you did very well tonight, and you would have won if Potter here wasn't such a cheater."

Harry opened his mouth to ask how, exactly had he cheated, when Draco had been the one using all the dangerous spells, but thought better of it and just listened.

"I'm glad to see you've been paying attention," Lucius finished. Draco just nodded at his father, he glanced at Harry once, but turned away quickly unable to keep eye contact. Harry wondered briefly what Lucius had meant by that, when he saw one of the shapeshifters step up next to him. Lucius just looked at him and nodded. Harry felt a burning sensation go through him as the shapeshifter put a hand on his shoulder that lasted until he took his hand away. He swayed on his feet and it felt like all the strength was leaving him once again.

The shapeshifter stepped back a few paces and Harry was horrified to see it looked like he was melting. Only the flesh wasn't dripping down, it was rearranging itself, and in less than a minute he found he was staring at himself. The fake Harry walked over to where Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing and Lucius handed it Harry's wand.

"Now all of you get inside the school quickly," Lucius said, then turned to the shapeshifter, "and you find some of Potter's friends, it's the only way to get inside their tower. Remember you only need to be here a day, maybe a day and a half. It shouldn't be too hard to keep them fooled that long." The four of them nodded at him and then set off back up the hill. Harry stared after them in horror as he realized what was happening, but he was too weak to even move, his vision was fading in and out.

"What's the matter Potter, not feeling well?" Lucius asked gleefully. But Harry didn't hear him; he could no longer remain conscious, and slumped, onto the ground.

When Harry woke up some time later, he was completely disoriented. He sat up slowly, still a little achy from all that had happened and looked around. He was in a room that had one very old looking chair and a small table with a candle on it. There was no other furniture, and no windows. The door on the far side of the room was closed and, he assumed locked.

He didn't know how long he had been there, so he pulled his watch out of his pocket. It was just past 5:30 in the morning. No one had come for him this time, so the shapeshifter must have been able to fool everyone. He just hoped that it wouldn't hurt anyone, but he knew that wasn't why it was there. It was so no one would know Harry was in trouble, until it was too late.

After a minute he stood up and started pacing, he was very cold and needed to get the blood in his legs moving again. He went over and checked the door, and as he suspected it was locked. The floor was covered with dust and cobwebs, it looked like this had been shelves up on the wall at some point, but no longer. There were a few splintered pieces of wood in one corner, and pieces of parchment that were crumpled up strewn around here and there. But nothing there would help him against death eaters…or Voldemort.

Why couldn't I just stay in the library and study, he thought, then I wouldn't be here now. He wondered if anyone even figured out that the shapeshifter wasn't him, would anyone even be able to find him. He didn't have the slightest clue where he was. Then another thought came to him. Tytros would surely recognize that the shapeshifter wasn't him, because he was able to sense the knowledge. He'd recognize right away that the shapeshifter was fake and if he did it soon enough, there might be enough time for someone to find him.

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when he heard noise outside the door. Someone was talking, but he couldn't make out what they were saying and it was too faint to even recognize the voice. Then, the handle jiggled, and the door slowly swung open.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry watched as the person behind the door stepped into the room, and couldn't believe his eyes.

"Tytros!" he said, almost laughing with relief. "How did you find me? Where are we?" he asked quickly. Tytros closed the door behind him and turned to face Harry.

"We are in Tom Riddle's father's house, this is his old study, and I've known you were here since last night," he replied quietly.

Harry looked at him, confused.

"But, then…does anyone else know I'm here? Did you tell Dumbledore, or anyone?"

"The only people who know you're here are the ones that need to. You have control over the knowledge now, don't you?"

Harry stared at him with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Why was he acting so strange?

"I think so," he answered quietly.

"You know you do," Tytros said.

"I thought I was going to transfer it to you…"

"No, that's not going to happen. You are going to perform the spell that Voldemort needs and then you will die, and I can bring the knowledge back to my people by means of your dead body."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He gaped at Tytros and felt hot anger rising within him.

"I trusted you…"

"Because I needed you to," Tytros cut him off. "I have been helping Voldemort since the beginning. Before you apparated from the forest when Forden was going to have you killed, I thought I was going to have to do something, but you managed to get away on your own. Then later when they tried to take you at the school, and they took me instead, Voldemort sent several death eaters to help me escape. I had given you the Pyromus then as well. I was the one who gave Pettigrew the charm to watch for the other Zlam so that you would not be taken by surprise again. I've been keeping you alive this entire year, so that you could extract your blood from the dark lord. Now finally everything is falling into place, and you will play your part."

Tytros just stared at him evenly, not showing any sign of gloating or happiness. No emotion at all.

Harry felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, and fought to stop the despair he was feeling take over. He looked into Tytros' dark eyes.

"Why?" he whispered.

Tytros just looked at him for a moment, as if thinking how he wanted to explain.

"I had to choose which side I was on," he said finally. "Normally the Zlam do not interfere with the business of witches and wizards. When it became known among my people that Voldemort was looking for us to gain access to the spell he needed, most of us thought the best thing to do would be keep it from him. Corfay is the only one who took action; by taking the knowledge away from the one who Voldemort knew had it. But by giving it to you, he only delayed the inevitable."

"The inevitable?" Harry asked.

"I believe, that if it comes down to a battle between Voldemort with his followers, and anyone who is foolish enough to stand against him, he will be victorious. All I am trying to do is make it so the Zlam are on the side of the victor. If we kept the knowledge from him, he would see it as siding with you. Then when he gets rid of all of his obstacles, he would see us, as enemies, and I didn't want that to happen. So I offered my services to him, without letting any of my people know. In exchange for helping him get you, he will leave us alone, which is all we wanted to begin with. I have nothing against you, personally. If Corfay hadn't acted in haste you would not have been involved at all."

Harry glared at him in hatred. He didn't care if it was personal or not, he had trusted Tytros, only to be betrayed by him.

"But your people don't trust you anymore. You'll never be accepted back in."

"When I bring you to them, with the knowledge, they will gladly welcome me back."

"Why didn't you just go to Dumbledore? He would have sided with you at the beginning and helped you fight Voldemort."

"We do not interfere with your battles. As I said before, you never would have been involved if Corfay hadn't done what he did."

"What you're doing seems like interfering to me," Harry answered quickly.

"Only to avoid a larger battle later. If we had sided with you and Voldemort came after us as punishment, we most likely still would've been able to defeat him, but not without a severe loss of life. My interference in this will prevent that from ever happening."

"So then everything you said the entire time at the school was a lie?" Harry asked.

"No. I told you I was doing what I felt I had to and that is the truth, just a different truth from what you thought it was. I also said I don't believe that you deserve to die, and that is true too. Unfortunately it is not something I can prevent at this point. I am quite sorry that it has to end like this for you."

"I'll bet you are," Harry said icily. He was feeling nothing except anger now. He felt that if he had a wand, he could've done exactly what he said he would never be able to right now. He glared at Tytros in silence, having nothing to say to him whatsoever.

"I only came today, because I thought you would want to know," Tytros said.

"Yeah, well thanks for that. Please don't do me any more favors," he spat. What was he waiting around for? Did he expect that Harry would forgive him after he explained his reasons?

He looked up when he heard the door open again, and Wormtail entered the room and went to Tytros. The two of them spoke silently for a moment as Harry looked on, then Tytros turned to him.

"You will come with us now," he said.

Harry didn't want to do anything he said, but knew that it would do no good to fight it, as ultimately there was nothing he could do to stop them. He nodded stiffly and walked with them out of the room.

They went through the dark hallways of the house; death eaters and shapeshifters were everywhere. Harry just kept his eyes in front of him, trying to figure out what he could possibly do to get out of this. They came to a set of stairs and Wormtail went first, followed by Harry, then Tytros. As they got halfway down, Harry's scar suddenly exploded with pain, and he lurched forward. He flung his arms out in front of him, but felt himself grabbed from behind. Tytros had caught him by the shoulder and steadied him. Harry shrugged his hand off and clung tightly to the banister that was next to him. He clenched his teeth trying not to think about the pain, and kept walking.

When they were finally all the way downstairs, Harry's head was in so much pain he could barely remain standing. He looked thru watery eyes around the room they were now in, but his eyes focused on the person standing near one of the barred windows. Voldemort.

"I'm glad you could join us tonight, Mr. Potter," Voldemort said in his high, cold voice that Harry could never forget. "And this time, there will be no friends to save you."

Harry just looked at him; trying not to show how much agony his scar was causing him. Voldemort stepped away from the window, and walked to where Harry was standing. He reached his hand up and Harry flinched backwards, knowing what was coming. But Tytros grabbed him roughly and forced him to stay in place. Voldemort just looked at him, smirking, it seemed, then brought his hand up again and ran one cold finger down Harry's face.

Harry used all of his will to stop from crying out the pain was so intense. Tears of agony were running down his face and he squinted his eyes shut hard. When Voldemort finally moved away, Harry opened his eyes and glared hatefully at him. He glanced around the room, as Tytros let go of him, and noticed now that there were several other death eaters there with them. Then Voldemort spoke again.

"You're very clever you know, prolonging your life much longer than I had intended. After we were able to make your secret keeper tell us what we needed to know, with the use of Veritaserum, Lucius went after you. But he failed, and I was greatly disappointed in him. How could a death eater be unable to overpower a young wizard who was not fully trained?"

Harry followed his gaze at one of the death eaters who hung his head lower than the others, then looked back at Voldemort.

"With that chance past, and you at that cursed school under that old muggle loving fool's watch, it would be much harder to get to you. To top it off, my other plan, to use the knowledge of the Zlam, was not going as smoothly as I'd hoped when one of them escaped with it. So imagine my happiness when I found out he had given it to you. It was then that Tytros came to me to offer his assistance, and I accepted. All I had to do was wait, until you had use of that which I needed the most."

"Why did you send Fudge after me so early?" Harry asked quietly. "You must've known it wouldn't have worked then."

Voldemort seemed to take on a very angry expression before continuing.

"Fudge, yes, another disappointment. I had intended to use him for the unlimited access he has to all functions of the ministry and because he was able to enter Hogwart's without question. He, of course was very unwilling to participate at first, but I made him see things from my point of view. It seemed everything was going to go as planned, but no, he panicked, and decided to go for you too early," he said shaking his head in disgust.

"He was stopped, apparently, by Sirius Black…and a house elf. When he arrived back in this basement, unexpectedly one day, I was none too pleased with his failure, so I had to punish him."

"You made him insane," Harry said coldly. He didn't have any particular affection for Fudge, but no one deserved that. Voldemort just smiled.

"Yes well, after him I had only one chance left. Tytros. He was able to gain your trust and I was quite impressed with that. Especially after all the reasons you had to distrust him. The Pyromus was a brilliant idea on his part, if only that mudblood hadn't figured it out."

Harry felt another surge of anger run through him when he referred to Hermione that way, but stayed silent.

"Why would you give me Pyromus if you didn't want me dead?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"It wouldn't have killed you. Because of the slight alterations to your body due to the knowledge, you wouldn't feel the heat that normally would cause the death of any other infected person. The intention was to split you up from your friends. The anger would still affect you and eventually you would have isolated yourself from them, making you an easier target. But when it was discovered that Pyromus had been used, and they gave you the potion, Tytros had to intervene immediately. Your idiot friends had no idea they were killing you by giving you the potion."

Harry's head was spinning from everything he was hearing. He didn't say anything, just stared at the floor.

"Come," Voldemort said to the death eaters. "I'm finished with him for now. We will begin tonight, as he will definitely be ready by then." They all started to walk, one at a time, up the stairs. "I'm sure you'll be most comfortable here," he said smiling evilly at Harry.

Harry just stood there, not moving, feeling numb from everything that had happened. His scar was still hurting very badly and he felt completely powerless to do anything about his situation. He looked up finally and saw Tytros was still standing there next to him. Anger, such as he hadn't felt before began to fill him. He glanced quickly to his left and saw Wormtail just beginning to turn towards the stairs.

Without a second thought, Harry lunged at Wormtail, knocking him sideways. He reached into Wormtail's robes and brought out his wand, then spun at Tytros. The two of them stood, in tense silence, unmoving. Voldemort just stood by, watching in interest.

"Are you going to kill me?" Tytros asked. "Because if you are you better do it now, before you lose your nerve."

Harry raised the wand, ready to do just that, and found he couldn't say it. Maybe it was because he knew it wouldn't help anything. He would still be outnumbered and overpowered before he could do anything else, so if he killed Tytros, it wouldn't be out of necessity, but just because he wanted to. He began to lower the wand.

Wormtail had gotten up by this point and moved quickly towards Harry, grabbing him roughly from behind, when suddenly something happened. Harry let the wand fall from his grasp and spun to face Wormtail head on. He grabbed the older mans arms and held on. The two of them were illuminated in the darkness as what looked like electricity began to flow from Harry's arms and into Wormtail. Neither of them could hear the screaming of Voldemort at the other death eaters to stop them. They also never felt it as several of them tried to pull the two apart only to be thrown backwards from the force of what was happening.

After a moment that felt like an eternity the both of them finally separated, each falling to the floor. Harry looked around groggily at all the people lying strewn on the floor, but didn't have the strength to get up.

"What just happened?" Voldemort screamed, full of rage. He appeared ready to kill the first person that dared to speak, so for a moment no one did.

"It appears that Harry has given the knowledge to Mr. Pettigrew," Tytros answered calmly. Voldemort looked at him furiously, then turned and stood over Harry.

"You will regret that," he said in an icy voice. But Harry barely heard him as the same drained feeling began to overtake him, and he slipped into darkness.

When Harry woke up this time, he immediately felt wrong. He was leaning against a wall and he saw that his wrists were in shackles above him. As he began to pull at them, to see if they might give at all, he heard someone laughing, cruelly. He looked around the room to see that he wasn't alone. Voldemort, Tytros, and a few death eaters were there with him.

"Go ahead and struggle, for all the good it'll do you," Voldemort said coldly. A few of the death eaters laughed at him, but Harry didn't say anything; everything that had happened earlier was all coming back to him slowly.

"Did you think by transferring the knowledge to someone else you'd be saving yourself? I can assure you that won't be the case. You will witness the spell tonight and then I will take pleasure in killing you."

Harry just looked at him. He didn't know why, but the simple fact that he wouldn't be the one to perform the spell made him feel better. Even though he knew the situation hadn't improved in the least.

"It is most unfortunate that Wormtail will be sacrificed because of this unexpected turn of events," Voldemort continued sounding more infuriated than a moment ago. "I wasn't finished with him yet and you will suffer for your mistake," he said raising his wand. Harry braced himself for what he knew was coming.

"Crucio."

The pain engulfed him once more and he fought with all he had to not cry out. When it stopped his knees buckled and he hung limply by his wrists.

"You will stay here until it is time," Voldemort spoke again. Then you will have the privilege to watch, as I am made…invincible. But not outside, you will watch from in here. I won't take the chance that you ruin everything again, like last year." He smiled wickedly at Harry before turning his back on him.

Harry was pulling himself back up onto his feet painfully. He watched as Voldemort and the others walked back up the stairs and when the last one was gone he heard the door slam shut. So he's going to become invincible when my blood is extracted, he thought to himself, leaning back against the wall for support. He almost didn't care that he was going to die. He knew there was no way out and no one knew he was here. All he wanted was for someone to warn Dumbledore and the others of what was happening. He had no idea if they'd be able to stop Voldemort after tonight, but he didn't want them to be taken by surprise.

He sighed in despair and looked at the window. It was still light out, but not by much. Sunset was close and he didn't know how long it would be until they began.

Several hours later, Harry heard the door to the basement open. He looked up to see Tytros coming downstairs. Harry glared at him as he grabbed a key from a hook near the door, walked over to him with it, reached up and unlocked the shackles. Harry stayed leaning against the wall for a moment before moving, as his legs were numb from being forced to pretty much stand on them for hours.

Tytros turned away and hung the key up again while Harry just watched him, massaging his wrists.

"You can see everything from here," Tytros said pointing to the window. Harry didn't say anything, but walked carefully over to the one window with bars on it. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see whatever was going to happen, but for the moment he didn't argue.

"Why did you give Mr. Pettigrew the knowledge?" Tytros asked quietly.

"Why do you care?" Harry snapped, giving him a vicious look.

"I don't care. Not about Pettigrew anyway. I would have thought you'd give it to me. I know you wanted to kill me, I could feel it. That would have been a way to make sure it happened."

Harry thought for a moment before answering.

"I was going to kill you, you're right. That's the only thing I was thinking. But I couldn't do it. It wouldn't have gotten me any closer to escaping, so I didn't see the need."

"But by giving it to Pettigrew, you have essentially killed him. You know that once he performs the spell, he will die."

"Wormtail deserves it," Harry said icily. "At least this way, I'm not killing him directly."

"Deserves it?" Tytros asked.

"He is the reason my parents are dead. My godfather spent twelve years in jail for thirteen murders he didn't commit. Wormtail killed those people and faked his own death. When I found out the truth three years ago, I stopped my godfather and his friend from killing him on the spot. But that was a big mistake because he escaped, found Voldemort, and helped him regain his strength."

"Well, then I can understand why you did it."

Harry just looked away from Tytros, and out the window. A crowd of death eaters had gathered and Wormtail was standing on a platform behind them so Harry could see him clearly enough. He looked absolutely terrified. After a few moments, Voldemort appeared on the platform as well. This was it; it was about to happen.

Harry and Tytros watched as Wormtail, who was white as a sheet, stepped forward. He looked at the crowd of death eaters and then at Voldemort. He said something to him, which Harry could barely hear and Voldemort whipped out his wand and pointed it at Wormtail, threateningly.

"Looks like he doesn't want to do the spell, even for his master," Tytros commented.

"Who would?" Harry asked quietly. "But he's too much of a coward to go against anything Voldemort asks of him. Even with the knowledge."

They both continued to watch as Wormtail backed away from Voldemort with his hands out in front of him, as if to defend himself. He looked almost as if he'd been crying, Harry noticed. But he didn't feel sorry for him; he was just making an observation.

Then Wormtail began to speak, loudly. He was speaking in a language Harry had never heard before, and as he went on he spoke faster and faster. It would have looked comical if the situation hadn't been so grim. A short, chubby, balding man standing on a platform with a bunch of men in black robes staring at him, while he shouted nonsense like a raving lunatic. Harry wondered briefly if the noise might draw attention from any muggles, but knew better. Voldemort would have set up some enchantment to prevent that from happening. And even if he hadn't, anyone who showed up certainly wouldn't be leaving.

It went on like this for several minutes, with nothing happening. Harry grabbed the watch out of his pocket on impulse, and saw it was just past midnight. Long way off from 5:09am. He dropped the watch into his pocket again and looked back out the window, but now something was happening.

Wormtail had stopped speaking and seemed to be choking or gagging on something. He was turning blue in the face when suddenly, his mouth opened wide and a long red creature slithered out. It looked like a snake, except it's head was like the face of a human. It had large black eyes and an elongated nose, but all of the other features resembled a human face.

Harry stared in horror, wanting to turn away, but unable, as the creature kept coming out of Wormtail's mouth, it seemed like it would never stop. The front half was now moving quickly towards Voldemort as Wormtail continued to gag on it; when it reached him, it quickly slithered up around his body and stopped in front of his face for just a moment, before plunging itself down his throat.

The creature now connected both of them, and it looked very painful. Wormtail's eyes appeared to be bulging out of his head, while Voldemort's were tightly squeezed shut. It was impossible to tell how far down it went in either of them, but it remained like this for almost a quarter of an hour.

Finally, when Harry couldn't bear to watch any longer, it pulled out of Wormtail who immediately slumped to the floor, but instead of doing the same for Voldemort, it only pushed itself further down his throat, until it was completely gone from sight. Voldemort stood for a moment, swaying on the spot, then became perfectly still. He opened his eyes at last and looked around him, none of the death eaters dared to make a move and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

He spoke then, once again too quietly for Harry to hear anything, but the spell seemed to be finished and Voldemort looked quite pleased. After another few minutes, several of the death eaters moved forward to grab Wormtail, and they all moved back towards the house.

Harry heard the door to the basement open once again and knew, as his scar began to seer with pain, that his time had run out. He looked around the room again, but didn't see anything that he hadn't been looking at all day. The floor was dirty and junk was lying about here and there, but nothing looked as if it'd be particularly useful in helping him escape. Soon there were death eaters gathered all around him, the few that came in last were all in a group. Harry could see they were carrying something, as they moved closer he saw what it was. They dumped the body of Peter Pettigrew on the floor next to Harry. When they moved aside, Voldemort was standing in front of him once more.

"Finally," he said. "After two years of mistakes and disappointments, I am whole again. Now there is only one thing left, something I've wanted for much, much longer," he hissed, looking at Harry.

Harry cast a look around again, looking for anything that might help him, but all he could see was the window to his left and death eaters a few feet to his right. Tytros he noticed had moved back near the staircase. There was no escape.

"I'm going after your friends first," Voldemort whispered, smiling at Harry. "I will kill them quickly, as they are not worth my time and once that pitiful school is destroyed and the old man in charge is gone, there will be no one who can stop me."

"You will never be able to defeat Dumbledore," Harry said without the slightest trace of doubt. "You were scared of him fifteen years ago, and you're still scared of him now. That's why you never come near Hogwart's; you're always sending your lackeys in for you. You're a coward," he said evenly, looking straight into Voldemort's eyes and ignoring the pain in his scar completely.

"You, however," Voldemort said furiously, "will not have a quick death. Rather a very slow and painful one as payback for all the agony I experienced during those thirteen years." He brought his wand up and hit Harry with the Cruciatus Curse yet again. Harry didn't have the strength to fight anymore after all he had been through in the last twenty-four hours, and collapsed immediately to the floor. He was unable to stop from screaming as the pain went on and on. Voldemort would keep stopping the curse long enough for Harry to remain conscious, before starting it again.

After several minutes, which felt like days to Harry the curse stopped and no one moved. Harry felt the after affects of the pain still running through him, but his right arm was hurting more than anything else. He was vaguely aware that Voldemort was speaking as he looked down and saw several large shards of glass protruding from his arm. He grimaced as he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked down at the floor. When he had fallen he'd landed on an old potion bottle, and smashed the top of it thoroughly, but the bottom was still intact. Harry stared at it for a few moments when he was struck with a sudden realization.

Voldemort said earlier, that Fudge had appeared here the night he had tried to kidnap Harry. So if Sirius hadn't come, Harry would have ended up here as well. The bottle he was looking at had the same shape as the one that had been turned into a portkey back then. Unfortunately as it was smashed, it would be completely useless as the original spell would be broken. He started searching the ground frantically, completely oblivious to the fact that Voldemort was talking to him, much louder now.

He looked over his left shoulder, and jumped when he saw he was directly next to Wormtail, but there was no time to think about that now. He started pushing the dust with his hand and was about to go back to the right again when he spotted it. The cork that was supposed to bring him here that night was lying less than a foot from his reach. He kept his hand right next to it and looked up at Voldemort who was staring at him strangely.

"What are you doing?" he asked slowly.

"Nothing," Harry said flatly. Voldemort's eyes flashed with anger.

"I don't appreciate being lied to, nor do I like being ignored. I am done with these games," he paused before speaking again. "You will die now." He said icily as he raised his wand again and pointed it at Harry. "Anything you want to say, last words, perhaps?"

Harry looked at him for just a second before smirking at him.

"Yes, actually. For someone who claims to be the most powerful wizard in the world, do you think you'll ever learn anything besides the Cruciatus Curse?"

He didn't wait to see the reaction to this, hearing the enraged cry was quite enough, he grabbed Wormtail's arm a split second before he snatched up the cork. He prayed fervently that it was the right one when he felt the familiar tug just behind his navel and his feet left the ground in a swirl of color and shouting.

When Harry's feet reconnected with the ground again, he overbalanced and fell to his knees. He stayed there for a moment, shaking, trying to comprehend what just happened. Not ten minutes ago he never would've believed he could escape from that house, from Voldemort. Yet here he was, back in Hogwart's, and alive. He looked to his side and saw Wormtail's body sprawled out on the floor next to him. This was the first time he really looked at him since transferring the knowledge. His eyes were wide open bulging out of his head, and his skin had a nasty, pasty look to it.

Harry stood up slowly and backed away from the corpse. He wanted to get far away from it as soon as possible; the only reason he had taken it with him was in hopes that it could be used to help Sirius. He looked down at his hand, still holding the cork, then quickly around him for someplace to put it that was out of site. He was in the same classroom that Fudge had taken him to so many months ago. As he came to the front of the room he saw that the larger desk had one drawer, he yanked it open, tossed in the cork and slammed it shut. With one last glance at the body, Harry headed for the door and out into the hallway in the direction of Dumbledore's office.

Walking as fast as he could, which was taking much effort; he went through the halls. The Cruciatus Curse had been done to him for so long this time that the after affects were not wearing off as quickly as usual. The parts of him that weren't in agony were numb, which he was glad of for the moment, because he was sure they would be the ones that hurt the worst later.

After a longer walk than he would've liked, he came to the statue for Dumbledore's office. When he went through and started up the stairs, he heard people talking. He hoped he wasn't barging in on another teacher's conference, but he really had no choice. Then just as he was about to come into the view of anyone in the office, he heard a familiar voice that made him stop cold.

"Professor, I haven't seen him for days, I have no idea where he could be."

"I don't want to worry you, and we're probably overreacting, but Tytros seemed sure that you would have control of the knowledge by last week. Up until the night before last, he's checked in with us regularly, but he hasn't since then. If he doesn't show up soon…" Dumbledore trailed off. Harry knew at once that the shapeshifter was there, and they believed it was him. He took a deep breath and stepped fully into the office.

"Tytros was right," he said quietly, staring at the shapeshifter, then looked up at the completely shocked faces in the office. Besides Dumbledore there was Sirius, Lupin, McGonagall and Snape. The shapeshifter jumped out of the chair he was sitting in and pulled out Harry's wand, pointing at him.

"Who are you?" he asked. Harry just stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you serious? You're the shapeshifter," he said in a high voice.

"Harry," Dumbledore interrupted. Harry looked up at him and was shocked to see he was looking at the shapeshifter. "Give me your wand," he said. The shapeshifter looked at him distrustfully, and didn't move.

"But," he began pointing the wand towards Harry. He obviously didn't want to let go of his only weapon. After a tense moment, the shapeshifter decided to give up the façade. He took off towards the door, which Harry was standing directly in front of. Harry felt it slam into him and his back was driven into the wall. He grabbed the shapeshifters arm before it was out of reach, and snatched his wand away from it. If he hadn't been feeling so weak he would've tried to stop him completely, but he just didn't have the strength.

He stood leaning against the wall with his eyes closed holding his wand closely to him.

"Harry," Sirius began coming over to him, looking both confused and concerned. "What happened?"

Harry just looked at him for a moment and suppressed the overwhelming urge to laugh at that question. Instead he closed his eyes again and lowered his head. Sirius put his hand on his shoulder and led him over to a chair. He gasped when he saw the glass that was jammed into Harry's right arm. But Harry couldn't feel it anymore and had forgotten it was even there.

"Maybe he should go to the hospital wing first," Lupin suggested coming over to where Harry was sitting.

"No!" Harry replied looking up quickly. "I mean yes I'll go but…" He looked around at their confused faces. None of them had any idea what had happened. The shapeshifter had obviously been very convincing. "Something horrible has happened," he said in a very small voice. He took a deep breath and began talking.

Harry began with leaving Ron and Hermione in the library and running into the Zlam. He explained how he got rid of them and then told about the duel with Malfoy. He didn't like to feel as if he was telling on someone, even Malfoy, but he had to in order for them to know why he'd been outside.

"Once the duel was finished, I felt the knowledge, I finally had control of it," Harry said.

"Does Tytros know?" Sirius asked quickly. "Because if you felt it that long ago then we need to find him now, immediately…"

"Sirius!" Harry said. "I'll explain, please just listen." Sirius looked as if he was going to argue, but instead nodded and Harry continued. He told them how Lucius Malfoy showed up and about the shapeshifter becoming him so no one at the school would know he was gone.

"I don't know how we got there because after the shapeshifter touched me…I, well…couldn't stay awake. It's like all the strength is taken out of you, but when I woke up, I was at the Riddle house." Harry said.

"How do you know that's where you were?" Lupin asked.

"Because…Tytros told me. He was there almost immediately after I was awake, and told me he had been working for Voldemort the whole time."

"What!" Sirius yelled, clearly furious. Harry glanced at him quickly before continuing, telling them everything that Tytros had really been doing since he arrived, and how he escaped from the other Zlam that originally came for Harry. He went on about meeting with Voldemort in the basement and how he was able to get Wormtail's wand from him.

"I wanted to kill Tytros," he said guiltily, looking at Dumbledore. "I was going to."

Dumbledore, who had been silent through the entire discussion looked into Harry's eyes.

"Did you?" he asked. Harry shook his head.

"I couldn't, do it. Not if the only reason was to take his life," Harry explained. "I didn't see how that would get me out of there any easier."

Dumbledore nodded at him, and Harry thought he might be smiling, but wasn't sure.

"I did something else though," Harry said in an empty voice. "Something that might be worse."

He told them how he had turned on Wormtail when he tried to take his wand back, and transferred the knowledge to him. Then before anyone could interrupt rushed forward. Voldemort using the Cruciatus Curse on him being furious over what he'd done, waking up chained to the wall, and being hit with the curse again. He was remembering every detail of every word that was spoken.

Harry went on and told about Tytros finally coming downstairs and unchaining him, as Voldemort wanted him to see everything. When he explained the details of the spell, and what the serpent that came out of Wormtail looked like, he shuddered in revulsion. It was an image he was afraid he'd never be able to forget,

Once the spell was complete, he finished the story, telling how they all came back inside, and Voldemort used the Cruciatus Curse yet again, but this time being worse than all the others. He explained how when he saw the glass in his arm he figured out from what Voldemort had told him earlier that it was Fudge's portkey, and how he found the cork nearby, used it to escape, and taken Wormtail with him.

When he was done, Harry just leaned back in the chair he was in, on his arm that wasn't bleeding, and put his head down. He didn't feel afraid, or mad or anything at this moment. Just empty.

Dumbledore stood up when Harry had finished and began speaking.

"Severus, Remus, I want the two of you to go to the classroom where Peter is and bring him back here. Make sure you dispel the portkey so no one unknowingly touches it." The two of them nodded, and without argument, stood up and left the office.

"Minerva, please go notify the other instructors that I need them to meet me here in one hour." She nodded at him then turned and hurried out of the office. Dumbledore turned to look at Sirius, who had been shocked to silence ever since he heard Wormtail was here.

"I intend to bring this up with the Ministry this evening, after I meet with the other instructors," Dumbledore said then paused before continuing. "We will clear your name, Sirius."

Sirius looked at him with a mixing of emotions ranging from joy to fear to hope. He had already come so close to gaining his freedom just three years earlier, only to have it ripped out from under him. He looked over at Harry, who was just staring up at the ceiling, and quickly snapped back to the present.

"Harry, come on. We need to get you to the hospital wing," he said rushing over to his godson's side. He had never seen him this way before, and wished he would show some emotion, whether happy or sad. Anything would be better than the blank stare he'd had for the majority of time he'd been there. Sirius glanced again at Harry's arm, and knew that the wounds needed to be treated as soon as possible.

"Sirius is right, Harry," Dumbledore started. "It would really be best if you went down to the hospital wing now. I will come and look in on you later." Harry looked up at the two men and then slowly pushed himself forward on the chair.

"I killed him," he said in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. "Killed who."

"Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew. I killed him and I don't even care."

Sirius looked at Harry in confusion. He turned to Dumbledore assistance and was shocked to see he looked relieved.

"You didn't kill anyone Harry. Voldemort is responsible for Peter's death. The fact that this even upsets you shows that you do care."

"But if I didn't transfer the knowledge…"

"Then you would be dead and we would be sitting here talking to a shapeshifter right now."

"It still doesn't feel right. I watched him die, horribly. And while it disgusted me, I didn't feel sorry for him. Not at all."

"And do you now?" Dumbledore asked.

"I feel a little sad, but mostly just anger. He…he got what he deserved."

"That's right, he did," Sirius spoke up. "Harry, what do you think would have happened if you or one of your friends had managed to catch Wormtail? I know you've seen him a several times in the past few years. What if one of those times you'd been successful in catching him?"

"We would've turned him in to the ministry, so you could be cleared."

"That's right. And if he was convicted, what do you think would've happened then?"

Harry just looked at him.

"The dementor's kiss?" he asked. Sirius nodded slowly.

"If that had happened, and you had been the one to catch him, you certainly wouldn't have held yourself responsible for that would you?"

Harry shook his head no.

"So don't blame yourself for this. If any of us had ever caught Wormtail, his fate would have been the same."

"I understand what you're saying, and it does make sense…" Harry trailed off.

"And you must always believe it is true," Dumbledore said. "You were incredibly brave for what you had to do, and I am truly proud of you." Harry cracked the smallest smile at that and Sirius was obviously relieved to see this.

"Okay then Mr. Potter," he said, off to the hospital wing with you."

Harry walked slowly through the hallways, thinking about that night. He wasn't sure why he felt so dazed. It must have something to do with the events of the night, maybe even being hit with the Cruciatus Curse for so long. In any case he was actually looking forward to the sleeping potion that Madam Pomfrey would give him.

He came to the end of the hall he was in and was about to turn the corner when the charm around his neck lit up. Harry looked up and saw Tytros step out from behind the corner, less than 5 feet from where he was standing. He staggered backwards and began to reach his hand into his robe when he discovered he couldn't. His arms were pinned to his sides, as if he were in the body bind only it was just his arms.

"What do you want?" he asked glaring at Tytros.

"To speak with you."

"I don't have the knowledge anymore and I have nothing to say to you," Harry spat. He began to step away from Tytros when suddenly he couldn't lift his feet from the floor. He was stuck there, unable to run or protect himself.

"I am not here to harm you."

"This is a great way to convince me of that," Harry replied. "So you aren't going to harm me, but let's see, you're going to take me back to Voldemort?"

"No. I have no intention of bringing you anywhere. I just need to speak with you."

"Normally when people speak to each other one of them doesn't make it so the other one can't move first. They just talk."

"You would not have listened."

Harry had no reply for that because it was the truth. He would've tried anything possible to get away from him.

Tytros walked past him and without warning Harry felt himself lifted from the ground. He was floating down the hall behind Tytros who went into the nearest classroom. Harry was moved through the air over to the nearest chair, and made to sit in it. As soon as he felt gravity working for him again he tried to move his arms, but still they wouldn't budge. He was getting very tired of all of this. All he could feel was the sharp pain in his arm where the glass was still imbedded deep into his shoulder and being stuck in one position wasn't helping any. Finally he gave up trying to move and looked at Tytros who was staring back at him, expectantly.

"Well, I'm listening now," Harry said angrily. "So talk, what is it you need to speak to me about?"

"I needed to speak to you, and I had to make sure you were alone. I know that I could not hope to overpower all of the instructors in this school on my own. When I arrived you were in the middle of your explanation of the past day's events."

"You were in the office?" Harry interrupted. "Then how come…?"

"I was not in the office but I was within enough range to hear what you were saying and to not let your charm alert you to my presence. The only thing I was there for was to make sure you left by yourself."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Look at you, you never would have been allowed to walk through the halls after what just happened to you alone."

Harry stared at Tytros, realizing what he was saying.

"I just gave your friends the 'idea' that you would be safe on your own. As I said, I needed to speak to you alone first."

"Okay, well here I am, not going anywhere, all alone just as you would have it, so please tell me what it is you want."

"After you…left, unexpectedly, everything was less than pleasant in that basement. You enraged Voldemort to the point where he killed two of his followers…"

"Wow, this is making me feel so much better," Harry interrupted. "I'm glad we could have this talk."

"Listen to me. It made me realize how easy he could be to defeat. Anyone who would take the life of someone who was loyal to them, for nothing more than anger, is not someone the Zlam would consider a difficult opponent."

"So you're telling me you don't want to help Voldemort anymore?"

"Yes, but I can only speak for myself. I can't speak for my people but I believe that you would have more of a chance of beating him now than I thought before."

"All this just because he killed two of his death eaters?"

"That was not the only thing I am basing my decision on. You also had the chance to kill last night. You had all of the knowledge at your disposal and you had gotten hold of a wand. You could have killed me, but you didn't. And your reason was simply because you had nothing to gain from it."

"Why should I believe you? You've given my absolutely no reason to trust you and I wouldn't' consider this a friendly chat," Harry asked sardonically while trying to move his arms again. Tytros shook his head and looked at Harry, then turned away. Harry instantly felt the hold on him released and he jumped out of the seat. He pulled his wand out and pointed it at Tytros.

"I did not come here to fight you Harry, I needed to let you know my decision face to face."

"So you didn't come to get your knowledge back then?"

"Yes I did," Tytros began and Harry narrowed his eyes. He was not about to let Wormtail be taken out of the school, not when it was the only way Sirius could ever be cleared of the charges against him. "But," he continued. "I also know of the reasons that you need him. I will return to my people and tell them of what has happened. It is Forden's decision from there what is to be done."

"I thought they were against you too. After you fought against them that night. Won't they capture you?"

"Zlam don't like to kill unless absolutely necessary. Just like you. They will hear me out before a decision is made." Tytros looked at Harry for another moment before turning and heading for the door.

"Tytros," Harry called. He turned around at the door and looked back at Harry. "Were you telling the truth, about everything?"

Tytros nodded, "Yes."

Harry just looked at him, keeping his wand pointed. He nodded briefly and Tytros left without another sound. He wasn't completely sure whether or not he trusted him, but the fact that he hadn't done anything besides talk, even if it hadn't started out in the best way, was definitely a good thing.

Harry walked out into the hall and once again set off for the hospital wing.

The next twenty-four hours were a blur for Harry. He explained what had happened with Tytros to Dumbledore, who actually seemed to take it as a good sign. Sirius, however, was definitely not ready to accept him as an ally just yet. When his friends came to see him he once again was asked to relive the horrible events he had just experienced. He couldn't understand it but it was harder to tell the story the second time around. The daze he'd felt he had been in since he got back was mostly gone, and he still had no idea what had caused it. The best guess he had was it must be connected to the knowledge, but he had no way to confirm that.

By the end of that week they were all done with exams. Harry was visiting Dumbledore's office everyday for any word from the ministry. He wanted so badly for everything to work out.

"Good news, Harry," Dumbledore said one day when he stopped in to his office. "Mr. Thurston has agreed to meet with me next week. I will be talking with him about Peter and Sirius. With any luck we may get a trial for Sirius."

"A trial?" Harry asked. "Why would we need a trial? Doesn't the fact that Sirius didn't kill Wormtail all those years ago prove anything? Wouldn't that be enough?"

"I wish I could say it was, but unfortunately that usually isn't the way things turn out. I will let you know what happens when I return, as you will still be here then."

Harry felt a bit of sadness as he was reminded he wouldn't be leaving the next day with everyone else. It wasn't as if he wanted to return to the Dursley's by any means, but he knew that this would mean no Hogwart's Express yet again. And if he was here the entire summer, he wouldn't get to take it back either. He didn't complain though; he just thanked Dumbledore and left the office to find his friends.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Cho spent the last day at school together, out in the sun, walking the grounds. It was far too nice out to be inside. They were able to talk Madam Hooch into letting them use the quidditch pitch under her supervision and played a non-bludger version of the game. That night they watched the sunset before they went back inside. Harry hated the fact that the curfew was still in place, as it meant his time with Cho was shorter still. He walked her to her dorm for the last time, as she wouldn't be returning next year, and kissed her goodnight. She promised that if there were any chance over the summer that Dumbledore would allow it, she would come visit.

The next day he went with all of them down to the Hogwart's express, to see them off. He waved as the train pulled out of the station and stayed there until it was completely out of view. Then he and Dumbledore went back to the school together.


End file.
